Family Matters
by SammyMae
Summary: When Rangeman agrees to help out the FBI and Vinnie closes up shop, Connie, Lula, Steph and Tink have to work as a team to bring down a human trafficker with a seriously scary side hobby. When Joe unwittingly draws Terri Gillman into the picture and Ranger calls Jeanne Ellen in to assist, things start to get interesting. M mostly for language.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Just polishing the chapters! Nothing really has changed, just wanted to fix it. Everything still belongs to Janet and I'm still just playing. **

"Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy," I guessed.

Meagan Santos, AKA Tink or The Pixie, stopped humming.

"Yes!" Meagan and I high fived. I started humming.

"Easy; that's Hey Jude," She giggled. "You won't get this one," She hummed for a bit. I sat there trying to figure if out.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Meagan and I looked at Joe as he banged his head off of the steering wheel.

"Are you okay Joey?" Meagan asked, "You're going to set off the airbag."

"I'm counting on it. You have been playing this game for two fucking hours; I am on the stakeout from hell, and I am regretting inviting Steph along. If Manoso hadn't...Hey was it Rap God?"

"Well done Morelli!" Meagan gave him a gentle punch to the arm.

"Great, I win. Now stop humming and eat a doughnut," he said and shoved a pink pastry box at her.

"We can't. Steph and I are doing a cleanse," Meagan said and handed it back to him. Then we both went into a bit of a daze thinking about jelly doughnuts.

"Why, the fuck, are you doing a cleanse?" Morelli asked, while giving Meagan a full body scan. She was Five foot nothing (if she really stretched), weighed about the same as my eleven-year-old niece with all of her body fat concentrated in her bra; she had perfect skin, white blonde hair and the best legs I'd ever seen on anyone. She was currently sitting between Joe and I on the bench seat of one of Rangeman's fleet trucks and she had her feet up on the dash.

"Lester dared us to give up sugar for a week," she said.

Morelli made a face somewhere between horror and genuine amusement.

"How long have you been on this cleanse?" he asked. Meagan thought about it for a second.

"Uhhh three days now," Meagan said.

She sounded as Bereft as I felt. It all started when Meagan walked into a meeting carrying two enormous, gooey fudge brownie. The one she was eating was still hot from the oven, and some of the icing on the brownie was melting down her arm. She had licked up the molten chocolate and sat down next to me at the table. She handed me the other brownie and then went about the process of really enjoying the dessert. Not audibly like might have, but it was a visual treat.

Here's the deal with Meagan, she's really smart, really accomplished and she's a specialist in PsyOps. She also knows she's gorgeous, and there is no way she didn't know she had every eye in the room on her while she was eating the brownie. The only one who's attention she wanted, was Lester's, the rest of the men were collateral damage. Ranger had been seriously amused by the display; Lester had been useless for the rest of the meeting.

Morelli dialed a number on his cell phone, and it came over the Bluetooth speakers. It rang half a dozen times before it picked up.

"What?" Ranger's voice growled over the speakers.

He sounded like he'd been sleeping. I checked the clock; normally he was still working at 7:30. Strange.

"You poor bastard," Morelli said, laughing, "Lester dared them to go off sugar for a week."

"I'll kill him," Ranger said and disconnected. The smug look on Joe's face was just begging me to punch him.

"Explain," Meagan and I said at the same time.

"Cupcake, we were together last time you went off sugar. Remember? You nearly killed me, and I needed to sleep in the guest room."

"Oh my god! I forgot about that!" I cried blushing furiously, "I broke Ranger. He didn't go running today. He practically begged me to help on this stakeout."

"Good for you," Meagan said, "He's been wound really tight lately; he needs breaking."

"Eat a doughnut Cupcake, wait to do your cleanse until he goes away again."

"Oh no no no no." Meagan shook her head emphatically, "Not going to happen. Carlos just needs a nap; I can assure you he's more than up to anything she can throw at him. He's tired because we've been busy, but if it becomes necessary, I'll take her to Pleasure Treasures later. Lester and I have a bet riding on this, and I don't lose."

"What about you Princess? Where have you shifted your sugar cravings too?" Joe asked.

"I feel fine actually; I just miss the sugar," She said. She suddenly pulled her feet from the dash and sat upright, "Hey! That's your skip Steph!" I sat up straighter. My skip was walking into the decrepit bungalow we were watching.

"Alright Cupcake," Joe said, "Meagan and I need you to wait until he comes back out. We're counting on Saunders coming out with him, if he does, he's in violation of his parole, and we can bust him."

"Yup uh huh got it." I said. Meagan and Joe were here because the FBI wanted Saunders. After their work wiping out the Slayers, both here and in LA, Joe had been offered a position with the FBI, and he was working out of the Trenton field office. Meagan, who was technically still FBI, but on permanent loan to Rangeman where she was an executive, had agreed to be his partner. Since Joe rarely worked with a partner, this worked out well for both of them. She wasn't couped up in the office all the time, and Joe had someone to watch his back when he needed it.

Tonight he needed help, and it just so happened that one of my skips, one Barney Knowles, was supposed to be here, so I was tagging along. The door opened a few minutes later, and three men walked out.

"Finally," Meagan said, "We've got some action... Shit, Steph isn't that Morgan Fiorelli?"

"Yes it is, and he's one of our highest bond skips right now, he's worth $250k to Rangeman," I said.

"Have you got the papers on you?" she asked.

"No, but I can call Connie and get her to email the papers to my phone," I said.

"Do it," Meagan said. I made the call, and Connie had the paperwork in my email before I hung up.

"Ladies, what's he wanted for; Should we be calling in backup here?" Joe asked.

"He's wanted for being a generally awful human being." I said, "Rape, murder, assault, multiple weapons violations, oh and this is fun, aggravated sexual assault, seems he had some fun with hand tools." I read his file a few days before and promptly dropped it onto Ranger's desk. I'd been training with Tink for half a year, and I could handle myself, but no way was I going anywhere near Fiorelli.

"Why the hell did Vinnie bond him out?" Joe asked. I did a palms up. Who knows why Vinnie does anything?

"He needs to get off the streets like yesterday," Meagan said. "They are going to bolt before backup can get here. The other two are non- violent; I think we can handle them." She shifted so she was sitting on Morelli's lap, an arrangement he had zero problems with, and put her hand on the door, "Shall we?

We got out of the car, Meagan and Joe announced themselves, and the scofflaws scattered. Meagan took off in a dead sprint after Fiorelli. Knowles started running towards the back of the house but realized he was about to corner himself and suddenly veered off in the same direction as Fiorelli and Tink. Joe went after Saunders, who was running in the opposite direction from the other two.

Meagan rounded the block after Fiorelli with Knowles hot on their heels, with me trailing behind. Knowles was struggling to get a gun out of his pants while he was running. He was hindered by the fact that the extra few inches the gun added to his waistline were what was keeping his pants up, and he had to hold onto his jeans while trying to unsnag the weapon. He finally succeeded as he half stumbled, half ran around the corner after him.

"Tink! Knowles is on your six, and he's armed!" I said into the radio clipped on my vest. The words were barely out of my mouth when I heard a gunshot. I forced my legs to run faster when the radio crackled.

"It's under control," Meagan said pleasantly, "Take your time."

I finally rounded the corner, thinking that I really needed to run more, when I saw Tink. She had her weapon out, with one foot firmly on Fiorelli's jewels while he lay groaning on the ground. She had her gun aimed at Fiorelli with one hand, and she was using the other to grip painfully on a pressure point in Knowles shoulder.

"I dropped my other cuffs back there, can I use yours on this asshole?" She asked when she saw me. I walked over and cuffed Knowles' hands behind his back.

"Sit!" She said and Knowles sat down on the curb, "Stay!" He nodded his head vigorously in compliance. Once he was parked, she finally relieved the pressure off of Fiorelli's pride and told him to roll over; he tried to comply but it wasn't fast enough for Tink so she assisted him. She might not have been gentle when she cuffed him.

"Hey Joe, can you bring the car around? We've got our guys." I said into the Radio.

"Just loading Saunders in now," he said, "be there in five."

Meagan was using Fiorelli like he was a park bench and he was groaning under her; she had her arms resting on her knees and her gun relaxed in her hands.

"Bitch! I'll get you for th-unnh," Meagan casually hit him on the side of the head, and he went lights out.

"I think I've figured out where your sugar energy goes," I said.

"Oh?"

"Umm yeah. I think the no sugar thing is causing you to have some anger management issues," I said.

Knowles nodded frantically. She looked at him and then considered her current seat, "You might have a point," she agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Still just fixing up the chapters. I'm not changing anything essential to the plot, I'm just fixing the writing.**

We sailed into the Bonds office the next day with both receipts. Connie was behind her desk, filing her nails and Lula was half reclined on the sofa, drinking a coffee and reading her horoscope in the paper.

"He in?" Meagan asked.

"Yup," Connie said, "Sounds like you had fun last night."

Meagan shrugged and walked into Vinnie's office, without knocking; which I thought was pretty brave, considering you had no idea what you might be walking in on.

I took a doughnut from the box on Connie's desk and flopped down on the sofa next to Lula.

"You know, I don't know if I like it better when it her or Ranger that comes in?" Lula said, "They say like almost exactly the same things and they can both make Vinnie squirm."

"He's hot, and she usually brings food, so it's a toss-up," I said and broke off a piece of my doughnut.

"Speaking of food; I thought you guys were off of sugar?" Connie raised an eyebrow at my pastry.

"There was a consensus around the office that it would be better for everyone if we quit," I said.

"I heard about what Tink did to Fiorelli," Connie said.

"Yeah well Bobby came and put Pop-Tarts in front of both of us this morning and kicked us out of the office until the sugar kicked in. He wouldn't say why but I heard him muttering something about Meagan and Ranger having impulse control issues due to sleep deprivation. Woody had a broken nose this morning, and, well, Fiorelli..."

"I thought she was aggressive due to lack of sugar?" Connie said.

"Nope. That's lack of sleep; lack of sugar apparently effects her the same way it does me. Lester looks like hell but had a huge smile on his face at the morning meeting."

"She don't look tired," Lula said skeptically.

"Good Makeup."

"Ah."

"Credit where it's due," Connie said, "Ranger hung in there; I mean besides his little nap yesterday."

"You should take him away on a boat or something where you got no doughnuts and he can't hurt anyone. See how long he can last; it'd be like a science experiment." Lula got up to get a doughnut and froze a little. Ranger had come in and he'd heard that.

I turned and the look he gave me was scorching.

"Meagan is already getting your skips," I said with a gulp, "She's in with Vinnie right now."

"Why?"

"She said something about strongly discouraging him from bonding Fiorelli out again," I said, "The word 'castration' was mentioned a couple of times in the car on the way over."

Ranger grinned. He and Meagan went waaaaay back; she was somewhere between a little sister, a best friend and first love for him. She wasn't the one who got away or anything; it was more like a mutual decision not to risk their friendship by complicating it with sex. Which was a smart decision considering Meagan could not have been more madly in love with his cousin, Lester.

"OH. MY. GOD. I just got the best idea. Like ever." Lula squealed and we all looked at her, "Man, you should go in there with them, Ranger; I wanna see what'll happen if you are both in the same room as Vinnie when she's being all scary and badass."

Ranger's grin transformed into a full on sadistic smile; then he blank-faced, strode across the room and opened the door. We heard a squeak and then a thunk followed by Meagan's rich throaty laughter and then they came out of the office together.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Vinnie fainted," Meagan said cheerfully.

My cousin Vinnie is slime so we all liked it when bad things happened to Vinnie. It was fun to watch him squirm; Vinnie fainting from pure straight up fear had an extremely high entertainment value.

"OH, I hope he wet himself," Connie said with a laugh, "We should take pictures; we might be able to convince him to give us paid vacation this year."

"Girl, if he hasn't peed himself we just gotta pour water on his lap; he'll never know the difference," Lula said, and they cackled as they went back into Vinnie's lair. Ranger was chuckling softly beside me.

"That was fun," he said with an evil grin, "Manita, Lester is coming to pick you up. We have two clients who want a woman's touch with the security systems. I'm taking Steph; you take Les we can meet back up in the office for lunch."

"You mean to tell me that I don't get the pleasure of your wife's company for the rest of the morning? I have to trade her in for Les?" Meagan sighed dramatically, "Damn, whatever will I do with myself? I hope my GPS doesn't die, and we don't get lost on a secluded section of road."

Ranger just shook his head; he had as much control over her as he did over me. Less in fact because he couldn't persuade her with his body. She only had eyes for his cousin and if Lester could get away with pissing Ranger off for sport, he did.

"By the way, your new cars have arrived," He said, "I appreciate that you didn't go with pink this time."

Meagan, on her 21st birthday, had purchased herself a Vintage Mustang Shelby; she had it painted a funky bright metallic pink and she babied it. About two months ago, and I swear I was nowhere in the vicinity at the time, it went to car Heaven. She and Lester had gone to the mall, I don't even want to know what bribe she used to get him there, and she parked it far away from the mall entrance where there were no cars to ding it.

A couple driving into the lot in an RV were feeling frisky, and the lady of the RV decided that she couldn't wait to perform a certain service on her man. He became distracted, jerked the wheel violently, cornered too hard, and the RV tipped right over onto Meagan's car. She had been devastated for an entire day. She said it was the first thing from her old life that she got back, Hector had picked her up from the airport in it. To cheer her up, Lester found her a picture of not one, but two cars. Which cars they were, I have no idea, but she'd been stoked.

"Is he bringing one of them? Which one?" She said with a giant smile on her face.

"You will have to wait and see," Ranger said.

Lester pulled into the lot, a minute later, and Meagan flew out of the Bond's office like a kid sprinting for the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. She got to the SUV and wrenched open the door and tugged on Lester's shirt, pulling him out of the truck. He was laughing as he got out. They were a striking pair; he was tall, about six-four, two hundred pounds of solid muscle, with skin a few shades lighter than Rangers, and he was dressed in Rangeman Black. His t-shirt was painted on and I knew his windbreaker, like Ranger's, was there only to hide his guns.

Meagan was similarly dressed; only she didn't bother with the windbreaker and she carried a few more guns than he did (Meagan was basically Rambo in trapped in a Pixie's body). Her t-shirt, like mine, didn't quite reach the top of her cargos, but where mine was by design, Meagan's was because her cargos hung way lower on her hips than mine did. Probably because she walked around with her own personal armory, strapped to her legs. Lester picked her up by the waist and gave her quick kiss before he put her down in the driver's seat.

If ever an SUV looked badass it was this one. It was like someone had decided that Batman needed a 4x4 and created it. Meagan had naturally, opted for black to go with the rest of the Rangeman Vehicles, which only added to the illusion.

"What. The. Hell. Is. That?" I managed to get out.

"It's a Lamborghini that's not actually on the market yet," Ranger said, "And she had to pull some serious strings to get one. It's called an Urus."

"That's awesome," I said.

"Come on," Ranger said, holding the door for me, "We've got work to do."

I shouted a goodbye to the girls, and stepped out into the lot. Ranger was driving one of the big black Rangeman Ford trucks, and he'd not come alone. Bobby, was in the passenger seat, engaged in a serious conversation on the phone. He made eye contact with us as we approached and he got out. I tossed him the keys to the Explorer Meagan and I had been driving. He snagged them easily and winked at me, but didn't say "hi" as he ambled over to the SUV.

"What's up with him?"

"New York office is down with Strep," Ranger said, "He's trying to move medical supplies and personnel around, but we're having a staffing issue right now. We're going to have to do some recruiting soon."

"Fun," I said.

"Thank Christ Meagan is back," he said, "She can do this shit in her sleep."

Bobby drove off and I was about to climb into the truck when Ranger spun me around and pinned me up against it. "For the record Babe, I'm up for anything you can throw at me; Bobby is the one who called it off."

"But you were going to kill Lester last night," I protested.

"If," he nipped at the hollow of my throat, "I'd known, we'd have gone offline for the week, and I'd have spent that time making sure doughnuts were the last thing you were thinking about."

"Prove it," I challenged. He growled, and if it weren't for the audience pressed up against the Bonds Office window, I'm pretty sure the truck would have been rocking in short order.

"I have something in the works right now," he said in my ear, "Pick a place. As soon as this thing is over, I'm all yours, for as long as you think is necessary. Do your worst." He gave me another full body scan and pushed off the truck cab and walked around to the driver side. I did a quick check to make sure I was still dressed, and that all critical pieces of clothing were still in tact, and climbed into the truck.

A few minutes into the drive, when my brain started firing on all cylinders again, I broke the silence in the truck, "I'm going to buy a new car."

"Don't like the options in the garage, Babe?" he asked, the corners of his mouth tipped up.

"No, it's not that," I said, "It's just that we don't have a car. Rangeman has all kinds of SUV's and stuff but we have no personal car and I kind of miss the Turbo." .

He didn't say anything but looked like he was thinking about it. We turned onto Haywood before he came out of his zone and said, "We have to stop at the apartment before we go to our meeting; one of us needs to get out of the uniform and into a suit. Do you want to flip for it?" he asked.

Okay so here was a dilemma: Which Ranger was sexier? Badass Mercenary Ranger or Corporate Mega Bucks Ranger? After carefully considering my options I went for Corporate Ranger, as he could make the transformation from Batman to Bruce Wayne in like five minutes. I can't go from Bounty Hunter Barbie to Corporate Barbie in anything less than an hour. Minimum.

We pulled into the lot and I had every intention of staying in the truck until Ranger came back down stairs. The donuts hadn't fully hit my system and I was afraid I would pounce on him the minute I saw him in his suit and then we would be late. That plan was shot to hell when I saw three new cars in the lot. My jaw dropped. There were two brand new Porsches in the lot. One was a Black 911, the other a Deep Blue Boxter with a vanity plate that said, BABE. Parked next to it was a deep red, almost black, Lamborghini with a plate that said, TINK.

"She certainly put that government bonus to good use," Ranger said mildly as he put the truck in park and we got out to do a walk around of the new cars.

"She doesn't really do understated does she?" I commented as we took in the insane looking supercar. Ranger shook his head no.

Meagan liked to make a statement. Everyone would know who belonged to this vehicle, and nobody would dare touch it; my car, on the other hand, was begging to be blown up.

"You know Ranger," I said, "The vanity plate is cool and all, but don't you think you just painted a massive target on that car? I mean everyone is going to know that's my car."

"No, everyone is going to know that's my woman's car. They will leave it alone." I eyed him dubiously for a minute; nobody thought twice about blowing up his cars before. Then I realized that was when I was with Morelli. Meagan told me once that the seedier side of Trenton didn't really give a shit about cops, but were nursing a healthy terror of Ranger. She had a point; we had been married for six whole months and the only stalkers I had were acquired before I became Mrs. Manoso. The only car that had been totaled, besides the Shelby, had been the last Turbo and I am going with theory that it was because of my pre-marriage stalker karma, and technically Meagan had been driving it when it happened. While I couldn't exactly go walking naked down Stark without fear of molestation, the baddies did tend to think twice about throwing food at me because I was badass through marriage.

Ranger went upstairs to change, and I did some research on my phone to see what exactly she was driving. I nearly choked on my tongue when I saw how much the Veneno Roadster was worth. It was time to ask Ranger a question that had been driving me crazy for years.

He came back downstairs five minutes later in a new bespoke black suit and black shirt with a couple of top buttons undone. I momentarily forgot my question and he motioned for me to get into his new car instead of the truck.

"So uhh Ranger, you know how we're married and all that?" I asked once we were out of the lot.

"I seem to remember something happening in Vegas," he said.

"I know there are some things you can't tell me because you'd go to jail for it, but I was wondering if there were other secrets you might be willing to share now..."

"Babe," Ranger said.

"Where do all the cars come from? I mean shit, there are a few million dollars worth of shiny new vehicles in the garage and they are always brand new and Joe told me once that I don't want to ask where they came from, and that I shouldn't look too closely at the VINS."

Ranger came fully out of his driving zone and laughed. Like full on Ranger belly laugh. This is a rare occurrence; it's a joy to see, but in this case I wasn't sure if I should be offended or not. Ranger pulled over, unbuckled my seatbelt and dragged me into his lap and kissed me.

"How long have you been waiting to ask me that question?" He said once he got himself under control, though he was still smiling.

"Ummm since I squished the Boxter," I said.

"Babe, those missions I go on pay very well; I can afford them."

"So you just, _bought_ the cars?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Well damn; that's kind of boring," I said.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that Al runs a chop shop by night, and I use him for modifications because he doesn't ask questions?"

"Yes. Much better," I said, "So presumably, Meagan was able to drop a zillion dollars on two cars, for the same reason?"

"Yes and no. She's very expensive, her fee for mercenary work is not for the faint of heart, but Meagan also comes from very old money, and she's an only child of two only children. When her parents died, she inherited two family fortunes. She's never had to work a day in her life, but she's too smart and too energetic to sit around and be a bored rich kid, so she had to do something she was good at. She's good at this."

"And Santos?"

"Same as me Babe. Plus Meagan left him everything when she died; though I'm not sure he ever touched any of it," he said.

I should explain, Meagan was supposedly killed on a mission a few years ago. It was just after she and Lester got engaged and just before she was due to get out of the Army. What actually happened was that she managed to pull off an epic escape, and got back to their RV point only to find that nobody was coming for her. She made it to a not so nearby village where she was put in contact with her commanding officers, one of whom was a complete dick, and he ordered her to stay dead for a while. The effect had been devastating on most of the men involved in the startup of Rangeman.

Meagan was 11 when her parents died in a car accident, and Ranger's Aunt Ella had been her housekeeper. Responsible for more or less raising a girl who completely grief stricken and caught in the anger stage of grieving, Ella had taken Meagan to meet Ranger while he was in Juvie. She had a feeling that they might be good for each other, and they were nearly inseparable from that point on. Through him, she met Hector and Lester's brother Julio, around the same time. She'd been unofficially adopted by Ranger's family but didn't meet Lester until she was doing black ops with Ranger and Tank, despite Julio's repeated attempts to set them up for years.

On a trip to Miami with Julio she slept in an absent Lester's bedroom and snooped through his things. It was on that visit that she started their flirtation by stealing something of Lester's -she refuses to say what- and that something got them exchanging messages. First through Ranger because Lester and Ranger were stationed together and when Ranger got sick of playing carrier pigeon, Meagan started hiding messages in Lester's bedroom. She almost always spent leave at his parent's place, where she would find the replies to her letters, sometimes months after they had been written.

They were ready to fall in love with each other long before they met, so when they did finally find themselves in the same room; they fell hard. When she died, it broke Lester and it took a long time to put the pieces back into some semblance of order. Then, six months ago, fate brought her to Trenton and one thing lead to another and she was reunited with Lester and everyone was deliriously happy.

I kissed Ranger one more time and climbed back over the console to my own seat. "Hey thanks for sharing man of mystery," I said.

He leaned across the car and kissed me again before restarting the engine and pulling back out onto the road. He slipped into his driving zone, and I slipped into mine. In my case, that translates into taking a sugar induced nap.

RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

"This asshole is a fucking Nimitz Class Douche Canoe! Like what the fuck does he think he's doing?"" Meagan shouted and gesticulated angrily at the Audi A4 straddling the lanes in front of her. Lester bit down hard on the inside of his cheek so he didn't laugh. Laughing was dangerous; laughing could get him hurt. Meagan looked like she was wishing she had rocket launchers installed in her car, and with Urus it looked like it could be a distinct possibility.

Meagan and Ranger were a lot alike. They did a lot of things alike. They did not share the driving zone and Meagan suffered from road rage when she was stuck in traffic. This was probably a result of being taught to drive in New York City by a friend of Hector's. Her Rage manifested itself in very creative swearing that often had her audience, like Lester was now, trying hard not to laugh for fear of her wrath being directed at them. Add to that the impulse control issues she had when she was tired and the drive was going to cause Lester to develop a hernia from forcing himself not to react.

"I'm FBI, am I allowed to arrest people for being giant ass spatulas?" _Breathe Lester_, he thought, _just take deep breaths_. The car in front had finally chosen a lane and Meagan was about to pass him when he cut her off and she slammed on the breaks. Meagan laid on the horn and Lester nearly jumped out of his seat. It had to have been custom because it sounded like it had come off of a fucking cruise ship.

The Ass Spatula flipped Meagan off, _Oh shit. The Ass Spatula just flipped…Deep breaths.. Deep breaths_… Meagan's reaction was to begin actively searching for the rocket launcher button. The driver ahead of her took one look at the car and the look on Meagan's face and wisely decided to get in his own lane. "Would fucking like to HALO drop him into an active fucking volcano," she muttered as she passed.

_And now I'm dead_. Lester made a strangled sound somewhere between a laugh and a choke and he fervently hoped that the rest of the drive would be uneventful and that traffic would let up soon. He wasn't sure he'd survive otherwise.

Twenty minutes later they pulled into the driveway of a large colonial style house in a gated community. Meagan got out of the car and composed herself. Lester had brought her a change of clothes for the meeting and she had changed in the car a few miles before they got there. She was dressed in business attire that flattered her almost to excess. The pants were wide legged and high waisted and cinched at the waist with a white belt, making her trim waist look improbably small. The fitted sleeveless white blouse that was tucked into the pants accentuated everything else while looking completely professional. Lester, dressed in full black SWAT, sat in the car attempting to bring his blood pressure back down after the harrowing ride. He hopped out of the SUV and slammed the door and walked around the car to where she was slipping her feet into a pair of bespoke, black patent leather stiletto pumps that brought her up a whole four inches.

"Want me to drive back?" He teased before brushing a quick kiss across her lips. She grinned at him and tossed him the keys. He walked in front of her to ring the doorbell, and she playfully swatted his ass.

He rang the bell and stepped back letting her lead. An attractive woman with bottle blonde hair, who was probably in her mid-fifties but had botoxed her way to 45, answered the door. She was wearing short white shorts with a button up fly she'd left open to reveal a hint of the bikini she was wearing underneath. The upper half of her body was encased in a sheer, powder blue blouse that hung loosely from her narrow frame.

She completely overlooked Meagan and blatantly checked out Lester. Meagan resisted the urge to roll her eyes and let the woman stare at her husband for a moment or two; it might make her day and Meagan was all about spreading good cheer.

After a minute, she cleared her throat and introduced herself, "Hello I'm Meagan, and this is Lester; we are here representing Rangeman Securities," she said.

The woman snapped out of her trance and looked at Meagan.

"Hi yes, I'm Margaret Beals. Nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out, and Meagan took it, "Mr. Manoso said he was sending out two of his best; I assume you are it?"

"Yes Ma'am. What can we do for you?"

Margaret Beals lead them out to the back yard where her husband Anthony was waiting. On a large glass patio table, in preparation for the meeting, he had laid out blueprints of the house as well as maps and aerial photographs of the property.

They spent an hour taking a quick tour of the property and going over ideal camera placement and various security options. All of his questions were directed at Lester, and Lester, in turn, deferred to Meagan for every answer. Mrs. Beals and their daughter Linda were utterly charmed by the couple, but Anthony became increasingly agitated by Meagan's natural air of authority.

"Mr. Manoso said that you provide bodyguards?" Anthony asked Lester. Lester, who had spoken only to Meagan for the whole meeting, maintained his vow of silence and looked, once more at Meagan for the answer.

"To some extent, yes, Mr. Beals…" she answered.

"It's Captain, Miss."

"Excuse me, Captain," Meagan said with a respectful nod of her head, "If there is an active threat, then we will do temporary bodyguard work. If you are just looking for full-time muscle, then we are happy to help you find someone. For a fee, we will train them to our standards, but ultimately they are under your employ, and once they are finished their training, will no longer affiliated with Rangeman."

"How many female bodyguards do you have on staff?" Margaret asked.

'Currently just myself," Meagan said, "We have another woman who works as a Fugitive Apprehension Agent and has acted as a bodyguard before but she prefers to stick to investigations. Let me assure you though ma'am, that all of the men that work for us are trained to be discrete when necessary and..."

"Stand please Meagan," Anthony said. Meagan raised an eyebrow,at the abrupt command, but complied. Not many people gave her orders anymore and even fewer people interrupted her. Beals stood as well and positioned her so that he could get a better look at her. "You are what? Five feet, and 100 lbs? No offense Miss Harris, but we'll go with someone else for our female bodyguards. The point is for my wife and daughter to feel protected, not like they need to be taking care of you. I am, however, intrigued by your security systems."

Meagan shrugged as if it was no never mind to her. She caught the almost imperceptible nod from Lester and she took a step to her right just as someone came at her from behind. She used his momentum to help him over her shoulder, grabbing and twisting his arm up behind his back as he went down. Just a little more pressure with her left hand and she knew she could dislocate his elbow, a slight twist further with her right and she could break his arm. She wanted to; it would have been satisfying, but she suppressed the urge.

"If you wanted a demonstration of my skills, all you needed to do was ask for them; I'd have worn different shoes," She said mildly.

"I am impressed, Miss Harris," He said, "Mr. Manoso was rather vague about your qualifications; I wanted to see if you were overstating your abilities."

"There is a reason he was vague Captain, and that's because my resume has been redacted to the point of uselessness. As for the rest of my staff, many of them are former Special Forces; I'm like that too, but more," she said, "Wouldn't you say that Lester?"

"I'd go with that. You and Ranger are Special Forces but more; I like it," he said easily and patted a stunned Beals on the shoulder, "And if you want to get picky about salutations, _Captain_, she's either Colonel or Doctor; not Miss."

Meagan helped her assailant to his feet and addressed him, "Next time, make sure my partner isn't looking. He gave me a signal so I knew you were coming; if I didn't, you might have been able to touch me."

**SPOV**

"I said we had a female body guard on the team; I didn't say it was Stephanie. If you want a demonstration, you ask," Ranger ground out. He had a hired goon, face down on the ground with the jerk's arm twisted painfully up behind his back.

I thought I handled myself pretty well. I had been learning self-defense from Meagan for the last few months, so when the idiot grabbed me form behind, I was able to twist out of his grasp and knee him in the balls. Then Ranger took over and threw him to the ground, and it looked like he was thinking really hard about breaking my assailant's arm.

Mr and Mrs Dillon were looking on horrified.

Dillon bore a striking resemblance to my brother-in-law Albert Kloughn, in that he was small and kind of doughy. He had a similar personality as well, "S-s-s sorry Mr. Manoso," He stuttered, "M-m-m-my brother-in-law said we'd get a better idea of her skills if she wasn't prepared."

"You must not have heard me when I told you that Stephanie was not a bodyguard? That she was an investigator? That we use another woman as muscle?" Ranger's composure was back, "If you had there is no way you would have been dumb enough to have someone lay a hand on her."

"He said you might say that but that we should test her skills anyway. I'm sorry," he said.

"We will consider the contract," Ranger said as he stood up, "and if we decide to provide you with personal security, I will send you a quote."

We let ourselves out of the house and went for the car. I had a feeling this quote would be well above our regular rates.

I waited until we were in the car before I started talking. I could see the tension still in his shoulders and around his mouth.

"Ranger, I'm fine; I don't think he would have hurt me," I said and got no response. I wasn't really expecting one; he was pretty pissed. "There was a time you would have been amused by my takedown method. I won't have you treating me like I'm helpless Ranger; I'm not. You have guys on me all of the time and I get that; I don't have to like it but I get it. I carry a panic button, Two actually, and..."

"Babe," he interrupted before I could get myself really worked up, "I'm actually impressed; normally when attacked you are an animal. You were in control back there, and that's going to make you more effective when protecting yourself." He took his hand off the wheel and took mine so he could give it a quick kiss.

"So why are you so pissed then?"

"Babe, he waited until my back was turned and then he had his goon grab you. I reacted. You have never had a problem with it before. Why now?"

"I don't have a problem with it I-"

"Babe," he said and I sighed.

"I had it under control. I don't like feeling like I always need rescuing. If it had been Les and Meagan instead of you and me, he would have let her handle it."

"The only reason that's the case is because Meagan could kill the guy before Lester could react. If she weren't so fucking fast he would have done exactly what I did," He said, "Face it, I love you. Someone lays a hand on you and I'm going to fuck them up. That's never going to change."

We were interrupted by the ring of Ranger's phone through the Hands free.

"Yo."

"She's been swearing since we got on the interstate, there is no traffic and I'm driving," Lester's voice came through the speakers, "The bastard tried to have someone attack her. She's pissed. I'm pissed. I'm just sorry she kicked his ass before I had a chance to do anything."

"How far out are you?"

"About five minutes," He said and then made a noise that sounded like a suppressed snicker, "She is running out of insults. She just called him a fucking Stupid Head."

"Tell her to switch to German. We'll be back in ten. Meet us for lunch on Seven." Ranger hung up.

"I thought she had like legendary control like you do?" I asked.

"She does; I just do my swearing in my head."

"Ah. What language are you on? Spanish?"

"I'm well past the Romance languages; I'm on fucking Cantonese now."

The car was quiet for the rest of the drive back to Rangeman and we went straight up to seven. Lester rolled in a few minutes behind us.

"Where's Tink?" I asked as we sat down to lunch.

"Changing out of her suit. I think she's going to go blow off some steam after lunch," Lester said, "Is there anyone you want to kick the shit out of? Might go faster if her punching bag fights back."

"I'll go; I have some issues I need to work out too," Ranger said. Shit he was really pissed about this morning. There has to be more to this, and I would get it out of him later. Right now, I had bigger fish to fry. I'd been simmering all morning well before Dillon fucked up.

"Hey, can I ask you guys something?" I got identical eyebrow raises in response. Sometimes the family resemblance was startling, "I was just wondering what you thought about maybe finding something here for Connie and Lula?"

"Connie yes; Lula I'd have to think about," Ranger stretched and put an arm around the back of my chair, "Why the sudden interest?"

"I feel bad for Connie and responsible for Lula. I was pissed off this morning when they were talking about blackmailing Vinnie for paid vacation. That business wouldn't exist if it weren't for Connie, and Lula took a pay cut because I got married and am doing skip tracing for Rangeman. She got a cut of whatever I brought in; now she doesn't, and I feel bad. I was just wondering if maybe we had something here that she could do."

"I'll think about it and get back to you," he said. He liked to say yes to me because I didn't ask for things very often. He'd take the question seriously.

RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

"When is Tank back from Miami?" Meagan asked; she and Ranger had finished their sparring and were running on treadmills.

"Later today; I'd like to have more information by then," Ranger said, "He thinks he's done everything he can in Florida. Where's Morelli's head at? He ready for this?"

"He's ready. We hauled in Saunders last night, and got the final pieces in place. He'll go undercover tomorrow and he's happy that we're the ones calling the shots."

"That's a surprise."

"Not really. He knows us; he knows we are aware of what he's capable of and won't have to worry about us second guessing his actions."

The treadmills beeped and they jumped off to begin stretching.

"Not that I didn't love the quality time with him this morning, thanks for that by the way, but you should have sent Lester with Stephanie. Seemed kind of ridiculous to put both of your profilers on one team."

"I wanted Stephanie to get a feel for them; her Spidey Sense is good. I wanted to see if it went off."

"Anything?"

"Mostly she looked like she was sleeping with her eyes open," He replied with an almost smirk and Meagan grinned, "What's happening on your end?"

"I've pulled every string I have and then some to push her clearance through. She'll have it by close of business," Meagan replied with a smile, "We can read the team in Saturday morning."

"Besides destroying one of his men…"

"I winded him, and maybe wounded his pride at most," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"How did it go?"

"Well we got the account; we knew we would though. I pressed all of the buttons I could think of, and Lester fucking leaned on one. We have his attention, but he plays a long game Carlos, this is going to take a while."

When they left the gym everyone was staring at them. They were used to seeing them spar. They were used to the fact that Ranger actually engaged in real conversations with his oldest friend; it was common place now. It was how they had done it that had everyone gawking. When they were younger, they learned they both had a facility for languages, and they began having private conversations, in public, by slipping into a new language. When they were in their twenties, they developed a technique for using several languages at once. When they were in the Army, a subordinate dubbed it Ranger Bell. Neither of them had used it for years, but they'd slipped into it naturally.

"Fuck, how smart are they exactly?" Hal asked from his place at the weights.

"Off the fucking charts." Ram replied.

**SPOV**

Meagan decided that we needed a girls night out, so together with Connie, Lula, and Mary Lou, we were going to a bar called Surprise. Meagan and I worked there on a case not long ago, and we loved the vibe. The bar did something different every night, and you never knew what you were going to get when you walked in; that night was Karaoke night and Meagan and Lula were up on stage belting out Raining Men. Meagan and Lula couldn't be more different. About the only thing they had in common was blonde hair, and that could change when Lula got bored. Meagan was petite and if she had an ounce of fat on her, her build would have run towards Jessica Rabbit. Because she has no body fat she looked like her nickname. Tonight she was rocking a pair of leather pants and a white lace halter top. Her hair was down and she had spectacular black eye makeup on. She was drawing looks from every man at the bar.

Lula was drawing looks as well but I suspected for different reasons. Her blonde hair was piled up on top of her head like a firework; she was in a red pleather catsuit that was about two sizes too small, and didn't zip up all the way in the front so she had about a mile of boob exposed.

Meagan genuinely liked Lula, liked what she had done with herself, and liked her strength. Lula was still on the fence about Meagan. She tended towards jealousy and Tink got a lot of attention, but at the same time Meagan was so affable most of the time that it was hard not to like her. Part of tonight was to see if they could bond a bit more. They started the evening by bickering the entire ride over, trying to figure out what song to sing first and now they were rocking their choice. Meagan, who was annoyingly perfect, had talent, and what Lula lacked in talent, she made up for in enthusiasm.

Connie and Mary Lou had gone to the bar for drinks, so it was just me at the table to cheer them on. Neither of them were shy, and both of them could actually dance, so the crowd was eating them up.

"Hey Cupcake," Joe said in my ear, scaring the crap out of me. I punched him in the arm in retaliation.

"What are you doing here?" I asked with a laugh.

"Ranger sold you out; he told me where you were," he said and handed me a beer. His whiskey brown eyes were warm and so was his smile, "I like the outfit; you look hot tonight Cupcake."

I knew I looked good. I was wearing a faded cut off jean skirt and tight baby pink tank top and a pair of 3 inch blue pumps. My hair was behaving, thanks to a trip to Mr. Alexander's that afternoon, and it was softly falling around my shoulders. My make up was natural, so basically I was the girl next door. Ranger barely let me out the door; that Joe liked it too was a little uncomfortable. I'd probably always be attracted to Joe, and we would always have chemistry, but I didn't want to encourage him in so I needed to nip any flirting in the bud. ASAP.

"Yeah, Ranger liked the outfit too; especially the shoes," That was like a bucket of ice water on his libido. His expression cooled and he took a step back. He'd been hitting on me out of habit and I could tell he was a little embarrassed.

"Listen, I'm going out of town for a couple of weeks; would your parents take Bob?" He asked.

"Probably, but what about Mooch or your mother?"

"I don't want them to know I'm going out of town. I figure if I send the dog to your parents' place you could just say that you missed him, or that your mom asked to borrow him for a couple of weeks because of some break-ins in the area."

"I'll call in the morning," I said with a nod, "I take it you are going undercover?"

"Yeah; could be for a while too, if things go as planned over the next few days," he said.

I kissed his cheek, "Be safe Joe."

"He'll be fine!" Meagan exclaimed and hugged Morelli around the waist, "I've got his back, don't I Joey?"

"God help me but yes," He said and draped an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey what are you doing here Officer Hottie? This here is ladies night so no men allowed!" Lula yelled over the noise. Mary Lou and Connie were back with our drinks now too.

"Actually that would be Special Agent Hottie; he's not a cop anymore, remember? He's a Fed!" Connie corrected.

"That deserves a toast!" Mare shouted. We might have already been a bit drunk.

"SPECIAL AGENT HOTTIE!" We shouted. Joe laughed and shook his head.

"You are all nuts; I'm outta here before things get weirder," He said.

"No you can't go!" Meagan said as she hastily put her drink down, "I have someone for you to meet. Come!" She dragged him excitedly towards the bar.

"Okay Steph! Come on our turn. What are we singing?" Mary Lou asked and dragged me towards the stage.

**RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS**

"Nice fake drunk you got going on there Princess," Joe said.

"Why thanks," she said with a little bow. She'd been drinking, but not as heavily as the others, and he saw her drinking water between shots. "Hector is back at Haywood monitoring everything you say and I've got an earwig in, so I can hear you, and act as your wingman if you need it. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Joe said.

"Well here she comes. You are her type and from what I could tell this afternoon, she's sweet; even if her parents are nut cases."

"Well her father is at any rate," Morelli said.

"Mom too," Meagan said, "I met them today. Her mother looked like she was going to seduce Lester right in front of me."

"Easy there Princess," he teased. Meagan didn't do jealous but she despised women like Margaret Beals. Lester told Margaret several times that he was married, but that hadn't stopped her from putting her hand on his thigh under the table, or trying to convince him that one time wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Yeah yeah. Let's get this show on the road," Meagan said.

Linda Beals, was a 27 year old nurse and the apple of her father's eye. She was 5'7" of long legs and athletic body. She had medium brown hair that had been ruthlessly put through a straightening iron. She was wearing a black bandage dress that showed off her few curves to perfection, and she was new in town. Meagan sauntered next to Linda at the bar and accidentally jostled her slightly as she flagged the bartender. Meagan flirted with the bartender a bit and ordered a Cranberry and Soda in a martini glass and pretended not to notice Linda as she turned back to Joe.

Linda tapped her shoulder and she turned to look, her black eyes widening slightly in recognition when she saw Linda.

"Meagan right?" Linda said, "I'm Linda, you were helping figure out the security for the house right?" She said.

"Oh right, Hi! Yeah that was me! Hope your bodyguard is okay? I didn't hurt anything did I?"

"Just his pride. He yelled at daddy for a good hour for not telling him about your credentials. He assumed your partner was there to act as muscle and wanted to see how he reacted."

Joe watched this exchange with amusement, "Having fun today were you Princess?" He teased.

"Oh sorry, Joe forgot you were here," She winked at him, "Joe, this is Linda Beals. Linda is a nurse, and I'm handling security on her father's estate. Linda this is Joe. He's a cop, an excellent kisser, and very single, and very lonely."

Linda looked Joe up and down. He was movie star handsome and suffered from an excessive amount of testosterone. Essentially he was sex clad in faded blue denim and a t-shirt and with Meagan's introduction, Linda was instantly smitten.

"Hey Meagan! Connie wants to sing Spice Girls! We need a Scary Spice! You're it girlfriend!" Lula yelled as she came barreling up to them, "White Girl is gonna be Posh Spice on account of she can't really sing, I'm obviously Sporty Spice."

"Naturally," Joe said laughing.

"Connie is Ginger; Lou is gonna be Baby Spice, on account of she's got babies. So that leaves you to be Scary,"

"Again, Naturally," Joe said.

"Oh fuck off Morelli," Meagan said with a laugh.

"We need our Talent out front girl!" Lula said, taking her hand and propelling her towards the stage, "We need our talent out front, girl!"

"My public awaits me," Meagan did a little slightly drunken bow as Lula dragged her.

"Damn skippy," Lula said and they staggered off together, leaving a laughing Joe and Linda to get better acquainted.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey! Back again! Sorry it took a while. I have momentous news! I have a beta, DimariS. Thank you Di!**

**Hope you enjoy this ****instalment! As always I don't own anything. It all belongs to JE.**

**RSRSRSRSRSRS **

"How are you not hung over this morning?" I asked. I had my mirrored sunglasses on in the conference room.

"Just lucky, I guess." Meagan was impossibly chipper after last night.

"I'm such a light weight." Tequila, drinking games, lots of margaritas...everything hurt.

"Evidently." she was laughing at me and I was reconsidering my feelings towards her.

"Ranger had to carry you from the car."

"What about the others?"

"Connie and Lula took a cab back to the Bonds office for the night. They couldn't remember where they lived. Lenny rescued Mare."

"I don't remember anything after Spice Up Your Life." I groaned and put my forehead on the blissfully cool conference room table. The boys had crashed ladies night. It had been epic. Meagan and Lester did body shots off of each other; she said something about him owing her from that time in that strip club. Yeah. It was that kind of night.

The door opened and I smelled fries. I lifted my head up from the table. Ranger fed me one and I started to feel better. I took a sip of the Coke he held out for me. "I love you. Have I told you that yet?" He just chuckled as I was finally able to take over feeding myself. I offered some fries to Meagan. She declined. "How are you in such good shape? My hair hurts."

"Multiple orgasms." Lester said. I nearly spat out my Coke and ended up snorting it up my nose instead.

"You're an ass." Meagan said and slapped him on the back of the head. Upon closer inspection, I realized she was practically glowing. _Holy shit, he's serious!_ I looked at Ranger. I was pissed. How come I was death warmed over and she got to be perky?

"Babe, it's a well known cure for a headache that I'd be more than happy to help you with, but you have to be conscious and interactive for it to work."

I glared at the room of people laughing at me. "Ella will save me. Ella will give me sympathy."

"I bought you McDonalds, didn't I?"

"You are making me come to a meeting on Saturday instead of letting me die in peace." He scooped me out of my seat and put me on his lap. He was still laughing at me but at least now I was cuddling him. A few minutes later Bobby, Tank and Hal came into the room followed a few minutes later by Hector, Vince, Cal and Manny. Basically, the gang was all here and most of them were wearing sunglasses.

Ranger called the meeting to order, "It's your show, Hermana."

"Yesterday we started doing a favor for the FBI. We're helping them with the investigation of Anthony Beals. We think it's possible that he is involved in a series of serial killings and the FBI wants our help." Meagan put a picture up on the screen behind her.

"What makes him special?" Cal asked.

"A few things, first and foremost is that he was already a client in Miami. He's moved his family here and wants us to set up the security for his property," Tink said. "We also think we have a bit of a renaissance man on our hands. It looks like in addition to his murderous tendencies might also be into human trafficking."

"Nice guy." Bobby said and he started to read the file.

"So what's the plan? We set up his surveillance and plant a few bugs for the feebs while we're at it?" Vince asked.

"He's paranoid so he does frequent bug sweeps. No, it turns out we have another in. His daughter, Linda, is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. At least she thinks she is. We picked him up the other day on some minor charges and he's currently sitting in a cell. The Beals family doesn't know the identity of Linda's stalker, nor do they know we have picked him up. He's fairly early in his obsession and hasn't done anything more than scare her a little.

"Two weeks ago she spoke to the police. They knew we were looking at her father and they brought us in thinking that it was connected. It isn't but it gave the FBI what we needed to take over her stalking case. Last night, before the Tequila happened, I hooked her up with Morelli." She looked up and cocked an eyebrow, "Hector?"

Hector started speaking with Lester translating for him, "After you guys invaded ladies night - And by the way, I'm hurt that I wasn't invited- Morelli got her out of the bar and he told her who he was. His story is that the FBI has been looking for a serial rapist with a long dormancy period and they are pretty sure her stalker is the rapist. He suggested that they pose as a couple to try and draw out the stalker which has the added bonus of keeping FBI protection on her at all times without it being obvious."

"Where do we fit in?" Cal asked.

"Lester, Stephanie and I are going to take up a new hobby," Tink said, "We are going to stalk Linda. We are going to up the pressure so that her father hires Rangeman as body guards. Beyond that I'm still waiting on the victimology from the BAU. They have their hands full right now and are happy to send us their case notes. Until I know fully what we are looking at as far as the serial killings go we are going to have to sit back and rely on Joe to provide us with intel for this investigation."

She started going into the technical aspects of the surveillance. I would not be involved in that so I mentally checked out. I was still sitting on Ranger's lap and I leaned forward and grabbed my Coke. When I started to fidget, Ranger clamped down on my hip and held me still. I thought he was irritated with my inability to sit still so I went to move to my own seat but he gripped me harder and I shifted a bit. OH! Ranger was bothered alright. Ranger wanted to get friendly and it was obvious. I was acting as a shield for him. Since this little meeting was boring, they were now debating having Meagan plant listening devices on existing body guards, I decided to have a little fun with Batman.

First I shifted positions again and he stopped breathing. Then I stretched forward to grab a pen to take notes allowing my shirt to ride up and my low rise pants to slide down a bit. I wondered if Ranger would realize that I was trying to keep him in a state. _Oh, goodie, a text message! Maybe there's a skip I needed to go get...like right now._ I shifted again to grab my phone.

I saw the sender and furrowed my eyebrows. _Why the hell is he texting me?_

Ranger: PAYBACK IS A BITCH.

Huh I guess he knew what I was doing.

RSRSRSRSRSRSRS

Connie and Lula looked up as three unbelievable black vehicles pulled into the lot. First the elegantly understated Turbo, then the flamboyant, ridiculous, bad ass, nearly black Veneno followed by the massive black Range Rover. They watched as Ranger angled out of his car. The scissor door of Tink's Lambo opened and she climbed out followed by Tank from his Range Rover.

"He in?" Ranger asked after they had all descended upon the office.

"Nope. Harry is pissed so Vinnie decided to take a mental health day," Connie said, "To what do we owe the pleasure? The little missus picked up your files already."

"Yeah and, uh, why are there three of you?" Lula asked. Ranger leaned up against the door, Meagan perched on Connie's desk, her legs dangling like a little kid's and Tank sat beside Lula on the sofa. He tossed an arm around the back of the sofa and Lula glared at him. She still hadn't forgiven him for the cats.

"We're getting out of the local fugitive apprehension business. The feds keep calling us in and the money is better; but for the moment we don't have the manpower. So until we go on a massive hiring spree, we're canceling our contract." Meagan said and pilfered a doughnut. Connie paled. This was bad. Without them this business would go belly up and she wouldn't have a job.

"I wanted you to have this before I left." Ranger tossed a black file folder onto Connie's desk and went back to leaning against the door frame.

Connie opened the file. "This is a job offer," she stated. She looked shocked. "I can't just leave Vinnie in the lurch."

"It's not as bad as you think. Les Sebring just bought Vinnie out." Ranger said, "Vinnie is about to become very wealthy. He's shutting down this office."

"Then I accept. When do I start?" she asked.

"Week from Monday. We're drowning in paperwork so your job will be to work with Ella to streamline us. She runs our private lives; you'll run our work lives. If you need help, you tell us what you need and we'll make it happen."

"What about me?" Lula's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Tink?" Tank prompted Meagan.

"Lula, we would't forget about you. Not in a million years." Meagan started, "You have been doing Behavioural Studies at night school?"

"Yes."

"You are going to keep them up. During the day, if you accept, you will be going through the Rangeman training program in firearms, fitness, self-defense etc. Once you are finished school - and you will have help from me there - and your training, you will be assigned a partner and become a member of our team."

"Damn skippy! Sign me up! Where do I sign?"

"Lula, you know what this means right? The men on my team have to pass certain physical fitness requirements, you will have to wear the uniform when you are at work and you will have to follow orders." Ranger explained.

"Can I do what I want with my hair?" Lula asked.

"Yes."

"Sign me up for Badass School." Meagan beamed at the quasi compliment.

Tank handed Lula a folder she hadn't seen in his hand. "Until the end of the semester you will do your training in New York. We have a sensitive operation getting underway and we can't have new recruits around the building while things are being set up." Tank said. "If the commute starts to interfere with your schoolwork, your training will be suspended, with pay, until you graduate."

"And after I graduate?" She asked.

"Miami." Meagan said, "and Boston probably. Julio Santos sort of floats between those three offices making sure everything is running smoothly. You go where he goes. Each office has its own strengths and Julio will make sure you are trained by the best."

"So that means you're going to teach me breaking and entering?" She asked Ranger and he shook his head.

"Who do you think taught us? Julio only seems like a choir boy." Meagan grinned, "In addition to your training, Bobby requires all staff to do stints in the infirmary so that in the event something happens to him there are other people around that can take over. He's also asked to be the one to do your firearms training. He's a great teacher so listen to him." Meagan suddenly looked distracted and pulled her phone from the back pocket of her black jeans and looked at the read out. "All right, I'm out. I get to go stare at crime scene photos and read incomprehensible case notes." She hopped off of the desk and turned, "Con, you and me in the firing range on Monday. I wanna see what you got?" And then she turned and trotted out of the office and back to the car.

"We have a meeting." Tank said and hauled himself to his feet, "Good luck, ladies." With that he to walked to his car, though with noticeably much less exuberance than Tink had. Ranger was at the door when Lula worked up the courage to ask to speak to him alone.

"Yo, Batman, can I talk to you before you go?"

He inclined his head towards the door and led her around to the alley where he and Steph had spent so much time. He leaned up against the wall of the bookshop with his arms folded while she chewed her lip.

"Why you offerin' me a job?" She asked, "Is it because Steph asked you because…."

"She asked and I told her I'd think about it. I brought the issue before my partners and we discussed it at length. They all think you have potential and Rangeman believes in giving second chances to those who have earned it. You have earned it."

"You said 'They' you didn't say 'We'. We got a problem, Batman?"

Ranger cocked his eyebrow slightly, "Starting next Monday I'm your boss. Get out of the habit of calling me Batman, you won't be allowed to take liberties in front of the other men. It isn't fair and I can't take you to the mats. Meagan will and believe me when I tell you that you don't want her to do it for disciplinary reasons." He said evenly and Lula nodded, "As for your question, I don't have a problem with you, Lula. You've proven to be a good friend of Stephanie's and you've proven that you would like to improve yourself. I do have some concerns and I have voiced them."

"Which are?"

"Your cop allergy, your inability to follow orders and your inability to keep your mouth shut."

Lula looked at him soberly, for once not showing all of her bluster, her Rhino mode suppressed at the moment as she considered his frank appraisal.

"You have to get over all of that. You leave someone at the station even once or you leave someone stranded at a scene because you either got scared or you got bored, you're fired. You fail to follow an order without a very good reason, you're fired. Talking about our cases outside of the building will not only get you fired but could land you in jail. If you don't think you can handle those conditions, I'm sure there is something administrative you can do around the building that isn't sensitive, but you'll still have to do the training and finish school." he continued.

"Can I think about where I wanna be?" she asked. Ranger's lips tipped up in an almost smile and he nodded.

"You have until the end of your training. I'll tell Julio you are considering both options."

"Anything I should know about Santos' brother?"

Ranger let out a full smile, "Probably." He pushed off of the wall and left the alley without elaborating.

RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

7 months later

Meagan and Bobby were on the dance floor and they were putting on quite the show. Lester was on the other side of the room where he had a vantage point of both Meagan and I. The girl could dance. Like seriously dance. She wasn't dancing with Lester because he was looking at her like he would drag her to the Men's room if he got within six inches of her. "He's in the club; he's on the way to the bar." Meagan said into Bobby's wire. Apparently, in the past when they needed a couple undercover, it had always been Meagan and Bobby. They had enough chemistry to make it believable but not so much that they lost focus "How do you wanna play it Steph?"

We'd given up skip tracing on the local level but were still very active on the Federal level. We had word that one of the guys we were looking for was going to be at this club with a friend of his. They had a reputation for picking up a girl (or a pair of girls that were open minded) and then taking them back to their hotel to share. Tonight Meagan and I were to be those girls - at least as far as the door. We'd gone shopping for our distraction outfits together and now Ranger refused to look at me. At first I thought he didn't like the outfit, but the problem was, he liked the outfit too much. He was waiting outside of the club for that exact reason. He was having trouble focusing on anything but my ass. I'd driven over with Meagan and if the strangled sounds coming from our comms, and Bobby's comment about Meagan's dress deserving a Nobel Prize and the tortured sound of Cal involuntarily saying "boots" were anything to go by, the rest of the boys approved of the spoils of our shopping trip.

"I've got an idea." I murmured into my drink, "I'll get his attention. When I have it, come to the bar and act like a ditzy blonde who's had too much to drink."

The skip approached the bar. We made eye contact and I gave him an almost smile before I turned my attention back to Meagan and gave her a blatant slow body scan as she danced with Bobby. She looked at me over her shoulder and returned the favour. I kept my face slightly amused and then looked back at our skip who was now very interested. He approached me, "Can I buy you a drink?" he asked and I gave him a slight nod of my head. He signalled his friend over.

"_Heads up._" I heard Manny say, "_Wifey has them both at the bar._"

_"I'm up."_ Meagan said and I watched her as she ran her hand over Bobby's abs.

_"You're killing me, Gorgeous,"_ he groaned.

_"Sorry, B. Gotta make it look real."_ she teased, gently shoved him away and made her way to me at the bar. She got to within a few feet of me and stumbled and I reached out and caught her before she fell.

"Babe." I admonished, smiling slightly.

She giggled, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"They haven't told me their names yet but they want to buy me a drink."

"Oh, I could use another drink!" She clapped and stumbled a little bit, this time into the skip.

"Babe, I think I need to get you home and into bed." I said, amused.

"Just one more drink, please?" she begged and I reached out and tugged one of her curls before tucking it behind her ear and nodded slightly. There was choked laughter coming through the comms and Meagan's eyes were alight with amusement. So maybe I was doing Ranger a little. He'd pay me back for it later but it was worth it for the pure entertainment value.

I ordered Meagan a Tequila shot which she made a show of tossing back before biting and sucking on the lemon wedge I was holding. Our skip and his friend were riveted. "Time to go Babe." I said and she pouted prettily.

"But we just met these nice men. Shouldn't we at least dance with them?" I shook my head no.

"Let us walk you to your car at least," our skip's friend offered, "Just so we can make sure you get there safely. She's looking a bit unsteady in those heels. You might need someone to carry her."

"You going to follow us home, too? You know in case I need help getting her inside?" I smirked.

"Our hotel room is closer…" The skip offered. I nodded my head and we made for the doors.

Meagan and I had a surprise for Ranger and Tank and I was just hoping I didn't screw it up. As soon as we made it to the parking lot, about ten feet from where Tank and Ranger were going to take over for us, Meagan gave me a signal. She stumbled and I used the distraction to grab my cuffs out of my back pocket, stuck my foot out and tripped the skip as he reached to steady Meagan. He went down face first and I put my knee in the small of his back then slapped the cuffs on one of his wrists. He tried to struggle but I had him pinned and his arm was twisted painfully behind his back. I grabbed his other arm and slapped the cuff on his the other wrist.

Meagan was standing with a stiletto on the back of his similarly trussed up friend, her was gun drawn so he wouldn't struggle. I hadn't seen her in action but she didn't look the least bit ruffled. I looked the outfit over and briefly wondered where the hell she'd kept the cuffs and gun.

"We don't have papers for the friend." I pointed out.

"He's got an eight ball in his pocket. It's cool. I'm booking him on possession." She replied. Ranger and Tank came and took them off of our hands, and loaded them both into the Range Rover where they shackled them to the floor.

"Why were we here exactly?" Tank asked.

"To do the heavy lifting of course." Meagan chirped and patted him on the cheek, "Well done, Steph!"

Ranger pulled me into a deep kiss, "Proud of you Babe." He said when he released me, "though we do need to discuss the insubordination in front of the men." The heat from his look could have melted asphalt.

A yelp of surprise drew my attention away from Ranger and we looked as Lester pressed Meagan up against the Range Rover and proceeded to kiss the hell out of her. He really liked the dress. Ranger raised an eyebrow and reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. He flipped it at Meagan who snagged it neatly out of the air and broke the kiss to check the results of the toss.

"Fuck." Meagan whispered and Ranger laughed. They had standing sides for heads or tails? That's just weird and you just gotta ask yourself what precipitated that or do I even want to know? With them you couldn't always be sure.

RSRSRSRRSRSRS

Morelli fobbed his way up to five and stepped out of the elevators and into the control room. He didn't recognize the face staring at the monitors. "You must be new." He said. Like all of the men of Rangeman the guy was huge and built like a linebacker. He had even features with blonde hair, blue eyes and a slight dimple in his chin. He might have almost looked normal if his eyes weren't so cool and he didn't have a deep scar on his right cheek. Despite that he was still somewhat affable and he held out his hand to shake Joe's.

"Yeah man I'm Jimmy. Just finished training in Boston and started my first shift here in Trenton fifteen minutes ago."

"Hi, Joe Morelli. I'm just checking in with Ranger."

"He's out. The whole core team is out. They had a scofflaw to pick up for the Feds." He pressed some keys on his keyboard and it brought up the trackers. "Tank's truck is at TPD for some reason and Ranger, Santos and Brown are on their way back - about two minutes out." He pulled up the garage on the monitors. Hal and Cal came into the comm room. They did a complicated handshake with Morelli. When he had been with Steph, most of the Merry Men had strongly disliked Joe. As Tink's partner, however, they got to know him. Ranger had always maintained he was a good man and they saw it now. He and Steph were good friends and Meagan loved him like a big brother. That's all they needed to know now that the boss was happy.

Joe watched the Turbo, the Veneno and an Explorer pull into the lot. "How does Brown like driving that when he gets to see Santos and Ranger in their rides?" Joe's chuckling stopped abruptly when he saw the legs getting out of each of the sports cars. "Damn." He breathed.

Stephanie was wearing a black leather skirt that was only a couple of inches below her ass, a slinky black halter top that barely covered her breasts and left her back almost completely exposed and in a pair of fantasy inspiring, unfeasibly high- heeled boots. Meagan was in a dress with a skirt that was longer than Steph's but still showed off a phenomenal amount of leg. It was pale metallic gold, the top was little more than a bra that was connected to the skirt by zillions of fine gold chains. Her heels matched her dress. Several fine gold chains hung from a strap at her ankle down the back and sides of her sandals. The chains at the front of her shoe were attached to the toe strap, the rest dangled from the ankle strap to the ground and were just barely short enough to avoid tripping over them.

"Jesus, looks like the bosses brought home some entertainment." Jimmy said with a whistle of appreciation. Hal and Cal exchanged amused expressions.

"Don't let them hear you say that." Joe warned with a smile.

"The boss isn't real fond of sharing." Hal explained.

"Neither is Santos." Cal added.

On the monitors, Stephanie was laughing at something Meagan was saying, Ranger was looking at Steph like she wasn't just dessert but a full seven course meal he was going to take his time enjoying. Meagan had just given Santos a playful shove and he was looking pained. Ranger grabbed Stephanie and pulled her into a deep kiss and led her to the elevator where the cameras promptly went off. "Uhhh, looks like you will be waiting to talk to the bossman. He's going straight up to seven,." Jimmy said.

Lester knelt in front of Meagan, she put her shoe on his chest and he seemed to become fascinated with her footware. Brown got out of his car and laughed at Lester. He kissed Meagan's cheek and got into the elevator next while she laughingly put her foot on Lester's shoulder and kicked him away. He stood and kissed her and they were next to catch the elevator. Much to Jimmy's surprise, this time the elevator stopped at 5. Meagan and Santos were still kissing when the doors opened but as soon as the door chimed to indicate they were at their floor, she gave him a playful shove and backed out of the elevator.

She noticed Morelli and her face lit into a pleased smile. "Joey! My hero! I need you!" She sounded slightly tipsy but Joe knew better, "I have a problem that Les just couldn't handle. Since you have helped me out in this department before, I thought you could take care of me?" Considering what Jimmy thought she was, it was a pretty funny opening line and Morelli tried to keep a straight face. She winked at Lester as the elevator doors closed and he shook his head, his expression promising a retribution she was going to enjoy.

"What can I do for you, Princess?"

"If you can't help me, I'll have to get Ranger to do it. I really don't want to interrupt him. Bobby has already tried but he couldn't fulfill my needs either." She pouted, obviously enjoying herself.

"Uh huh. What's your problem?"

She sat down on the Comm desk and stuck out her leg. Morelli looked down at her shoe. One of the chains had managed to tangle itself around the buckle at her ankle.

"There is a stone in my shoe and I can't get the damned shoe off." she whined.

Joe knelt down on the floor in front of her and began working on the chain. "Jesus, Princess, Santos is going to kill me, I'm getting turned on here. I just saw where your gun is."

She laughed. "Report!"

"Nothing to report, Tink. It's been quiet." Hal said. She looked at Jimmy who was staring at her in complete shock.

"You will have to forgive Jimmy. He's new. He thought you and Bombshell were party favours." Cal said.

"Oh man, are you ever lucky it's me in charge until Tank gets back." she teased.

Joe finished untangling her shoe and freed her foot and a rather sizeable pebble fell out of the high-heel.

"Oh, thank God." The relief was real, that rock had to have hurt, "Les just kept making it worse and my foot was killing me."

"He was distracted." He unbuckled her other shoe for her as he was down there already, "If I thought I had a shot with you, I wouldn't have been able to save you either." She reached into the desk drawer in front of Jimmy and pulled out a fob and tossed it to Joe.

"Come on. I'm beat, Ranger is offline for the rest of the night and Tank will be back any minute. I'm putting you up on 4 and then I am going to bed. Hopefully, if things stay quiet I'll actually get some sleep." she said.

"Thanks, Princess." He didn't bother to ask how she knew that the safe house he was living in was no longer safe. He was just grateful that he'd get a good night's sleep. Seven months of undercover work was about to go down the drain because of a chance meeting in a bar. He picked up a stack of files he'd put on the Comm desk when he'd dealt with Meagan's shoe crisis.

They took the stairs to four and she pointed to the door to his apartment. Joe fobbed it opened and they went inside. As soon as the door closed behind them Meagan slapped him in the back of the head, "You could see my gun? What the hell?"

"Jimmy just needed to know who you really are. Nice outfit by the way." She grinned. He was forgiven.

The apartment was utilitarian. It had a small kitchen, double bed, small love seat and a large television. Joe sat on the foot of the bed and took off his shoes.

"Distraction job. It was fun. Steph is unbelievable. She snagged both of their attentions in like five seconds flat. I just had to go over there and be her arm candy."

"I find it hard to believe that Santos didn't want to drag you upstairs, too. Christ you and Steph as lovers is like every man's wet dream."

"I lost the coin toss. I get to be on call tonight." She replied. "What happened Joe? Why am I offering you refuge tonight? How compromised is the safe house?"

"Oh, I'd say burn it down," he said as he ran his hand through his hair, "it's about as compromised as it can get. I found no less than six bugs in it yesterday, Silvio's alerts went off on every computer in there, I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week afraid I might say something in my sleep."

"Oh man."

"Yeah exactly. I've emptied the safe; I'm positive that they didn't get anything from it."

"Unless they can fake an iris scan it's not likely." She said dryly, "I assume all of your notes were in there?" He nodded. "Give them to me. I'll go over them tonight." she held out her arm and made a gimme motion with her hand.

"What do you need me to do?" He handed her the files and a couple of notepads.

"Get some sleep. You look like shit." she said not unkindly, "There isn't much more we can do tonight."

"Thanks, Princess. It's possible we might be able to save this. I don't see how, but you are the expert so I leave it in your capable hands," Joe said on a yawn. He pulled off his belt and his shirt and tossed the shirt towards the laundry basket in the corner. Meagan turned and started to leave before he stripped anymore. She needn't have worried. He didn't get further than that. He fell asleep on top of the covers with his jeans and socks still on.

Lester was going to be pissed. Not because of her shameless flirting with Joe. That was all for show and he knew it. No, he was going to be pissed because she was going to spend the night working.

She sighed and looked at the file in her hands. She had to go back to the control room to rescue her shoes anyway, if she scanned the notes while she was there, she could have them on her iPad. Joe wasn't a prolific note taker so she could take her iPad into the tub with her, have a cup of tea and get through his notes in an hour. She could make her own notes and send them to Ranger and then maybe, just maybe, she might actually get a couple hours of sleep…

When she got back to the control room, Zero stood up and took the file from her without asking and Jimmy brought her a cup of tea. "Santos took your shoes up already; he said to tell you everything would be ready on 6 for you. He's already called Ranger who agrees that there isn't much more you can do tonight, your meeting is set for 1000 and Ranger has us cancelling your client meetings tomorrow." He hesitated for a second, "And, apparently, I have the pleasure of you handing my ass to me at your leisure."

Momentary confusion crossed her face and then she grinned and reached inside her top. She pulled out her mic. "Thanks Baby! I forgot I was still wired." She switched it off. "You don't have to worry about me schooling you on the mats. You assumed what I was dressed to make men assume. It's not your fault you didn't realize that I'm your boss. How could you possibly know? It's not like we've met before."

"If it's any consolation, I assumed that you were expensive,." Jimmy said. She grinned.

"Thanks for that." Zero returned with the folder.

"Damn, Tink, I wasn't paying attention before. You look fine tonight!" He said and she twirled. Her chains spun out and Jimmy stopped her.

"May I?" She nodded. He pushed aside the chains on her back, "Jesus." He was looking at the scar on her back and then light dawned, "Holy shit, you're the Pixie!"

"Used to be. Now I'm mostly just Meagan or Tink," she said.

"Or Mrs. Santos." Lester said from the door, "You going to be much longer Gorgeous?"

"Nope, I'm ready to go." Lester pulled her rings out of his vest pocket and slipped them onto her finger, a little post mission tradition that they had developed. The massive pink diamond was just too tempting for the bad guys they went after. When Tink took to the streets she did it without her wedding and engagement rings. Lester was fine with it as long as he got to be the one to put them back on her. She kissed him spontaneously. He was really very sweet.

She took off towards the stairs, "Race ya!" She called and then disappeared into the stairwell. Lester grinned and took off after her. They watched on the monitor as he caught up to her and pinned her to the wall. He held both her hands above her head with one hand and with his free hand he used her keys to scramble the cameras.

"Lucky bastard." Jimmy muttered. He wasn't sure who he was directing the phrase at either; Lester because he got to enjoy the benefits of being married to a woman like her who had so much fire and energy or himself because of the job he landed. An injury during Ranger training ended his career in the military and he'd been floating from job to job since he'd come home. He was having a hard time adjusting to civilian life. During a rehab session for the knee injury that ended his career, he got to talking to another vet about his inability to adjust. The vet had a friend who worked for Rangeman, a call was made, a surgeon was consulted. The doctor, a man named Julio Santos, booked Jimmy in for surgery, did some repairs to the knee all the while bitching about the hatchet job that had been done on him before.

Once another round of rehab was finished he was back to training. His knee was stronger than he could remember it being; the quality of physiotherapy provided by Rangeman was the best possible. Everything was taken care of as part of the job offer they had presented him with including room and board. When he found out who his boss was, he almost needed oxygen. Ranger was a legend. He shouldn't have been as surprised as he was that the Pixie was also part of Rangeman. He had heard about the injuries. Hell, everyone had when she was found outside of that hospital. He didn't realize that she was related to Ranger through marriage. She was one of those women you don't picture dating. Hell, you didn't even think of her as human; she was the ultimate in unattainable.

"There are five women who work here," Zero said. "All special, three of them are spoken for. Tink, real name Meagan Santos. Ella who is Rangeman's mother, Lester and Ranger's aunt and responsible for raising Tink. She's a sweetie and she looks after us. Then there is Bombshell. Formerly known as Stephanie Plum. She's the boss's woman. She's something else. When they ask you to do something, you do it. No questions. Tink and Ranger might as well be the same person. Ella is, well, Ella. You'll understand. And it's best if you read the Bombshell file. Girl's got as much natural ability as Tink and Ranger without the training. She brings chaos but she has great instincts."

"The other two?"

"Connie Rossoli. She's the office manager and works reception. She's connected so if you wanna have a go at her just be warned that when she says she wants you to meet her family, she means that with a capital F. Then there is Lula, former Ho, Bomber's sometimes partner and a whole lot of woman even though there is much less of her now."

"Interesting mix."

"Yes, but we love them all so don't fuck with any of them unless you want to get hurt."

"You gonna do the hurtin'?" Jimmy was fairly certain he could take Zero.

"Nope, they'd do it, then the rest of us would be right in line behind the boss."

RSRSRSRSRSRS

"Yo. Someone better be dead." Ranger said into the phone. At the moment Stephanie was passed out and sprawled on top of him recovering from what had started in the elevator and ended with a trail of clothing that lead to their bedroom. He had been considering rolling her under him for round two when the phone rang.

"Just our case probably.," Lester said into the phone, "and maybe Morelli if he doesn't stop looking up Meagan's skirt. Tink left her ears on. She's put Morelli up on four. The safe house has been compromised. She's going to go through his notes and debrief him fully tomorrow. He must be in rough shape if she isn't demanding a debriefing now." _Fuck!_ If he was hurt, Stephanie would be pissed. She'd find a way to make herself think it was her fault.

"Have you laid eyes on him? Does he need medical attention?_"_

"Yeah, he's dead on his feet but otherwise fine."

"Let him sleep. If she doesn't think it's worth questioning him now, then it isn't; but tell her I am ordering her to get some sleep tonight. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"Zero is going to scan Morelli's field notes."

"Send me a copy."

Stephanie moaned and was about to turn over. She'd become adept at knowing when he was going to leave for work even in her sleep. He tightened his grip on her. He might have to work but he could do it from their bed. He was going to read Morelli's notes the same way Meagan was going to - on his iPad. There was no need for him to get out of bed yet.

RSRSRSRSRSRS

_AN: Hey the good news is that I will have another chapter to post soon. To all of you who review as Guest that I __can't__ thank personally, Thank you for your reviews. I love them!_


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Chapter two got cut off for some reason and I've gone back and fixed it. It's just the beginning of Ladies Night and Joe Meeting Linda Beals. this chapter is a beast and any medical terminology used in it comes from WebMD. I'm in no way an expert. As always it all belongs to JE.**

cRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

Lester's feet were on the edge of the massive soaker tub in their apartment. He wouldn't normally get in the bath with Meagan - you could cook lobsters in Meagan's bath water and he didn't want to injure body parts he was rather fond of - but he would keep her company. He'd pulled up a chair and was using the tub as a foot rest. They were on their second read through of Morelli's notes.

"This isn't good." he said.

"On the bright side we're good stalkers. Beals does want additional security. He's been requesting a female presence."

"Not gonna happen, Meagan. For the same reason we can't use Burrows and why this is such a fuck up. You are his type and not in a good way. You are exactly what he likes in a victim. You know Ranger won't let you go in."

"Who do you suggest then? Stephanie? Ranger is barely letting us use her for this. She's a good investigator, she has a good head on her shoulders and her training is coming along nicely but she isn't ready to go in alone. Not by a long shot."

"Lula could go with her. She's finished the training."

Meagan sat forward in the bath. "Actually..." Lula had taken to the training like a fish to water. She was a natural at everything except for shooting. She was clever, quick, and strong... Lula could be Steph's backup for real now, "I'll send Ranger an email and get Lula on a plane."

RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

"Somebody had better be dead." Meagan muttered into the phone. She felt like she had just closed her eyes.

"Yeah, a girl named Tina Gillian." Zero's voice said in her ear. Meagan winced and looked at the clock, 0639. She'd been in bed for three hours, asleep for an hour. Lester had been thorough. She was still slightly boneless.

"I'm up." She turned to wake up Lester but he was already gone, "I'll be down in 10 minutes."

"Santos is already out on a call with Brown, boss said to pick a partner today."

"Leave Hal and Cal on Steph, I imagine I will be with Tank and Ranger at the scene so I'm covered."

"Nope. Ranger said you get a shadow and Santos and Brown threatened me with bodily harm if I let you leave the building alone." She pinched the bridge of her nose. Dying has a way of making the men in your life a little overprotective, she thought. She'd been dropped off in the middle of a jungle by herself before and survived. She'd done countless missions more dangerous yet her husband and surrogate brothers were demanding she take an armed bodyguard to a crime scene loaded with FBI and Trenton's Finest. Yeah that was totally necessary.

"I'll take Jimmy. He should be introduced to the boys in blue so he doesn't get arrested for being big and scary looking," she said finally, "has Ranger already left?"

"No. He's been up and to the gym already. Bomber said he was in the shower. He'll meet you at the scene with Tank. Your meeting has been moved to 0800."

"Thanks." She hung up and swung her legs out of bed. She needed another profiler on staff besides her husband. Yes, they were a good team but he was actually Bobby's partner. She could use him this morning, he knew the case as well as she did and would be able to spot within minutes if it was their killer; but he was out saving the world already.

_Okay, Tink, get dressed. _

She willed her body into waking up and put on a clean bra and underwear, next she strapped a gun to her thigh. She slipped on a black camisole and shoulder holster, added two more guns and then a knife was strapped to her other thigh. On went a black pencil skirt and gun number four went into the waistband. Finally her black blazer went on followed by a pair of 5-inch black stilettos. She clipped her FBI badge and her Rangeman credentials to her hip then shoved a mini stungun, her cell phone and a mini pepper spray into her pocket and she was ready to go.

She caught the elevator to five and picked up Jimmy. He'd remembered how she liked her tea and handed her a To Go cup. "You are a god among men, Jimmy," she said as he stepped into the elevator.

"Just trying to redeem myself by sucking up," he said.

She snorted, "I like you. Which, depending on how you look at it, could be good or bad for you."

"How's that?"

"Today you begin learning how to profile and you get to be my partner whenever Lester is busy."

Jimmy stared. He couldn't believe his luck. "Thank you." it was all he could think of to say. The doors opened to the garage.

"Think you will fit in my car or do we have to take an SUV?"

She bleeped open her Veneno. "I'll make myself fit." he declared.

"Hello, Joe," I said as I walked into the conference room. Ranger had pried me out of bed this morning and told me I had work to do before a meeting. He handed me a folder with my cup of coffee and made me read crime scene notes. He'd removed pictures, thank God, but I was learning about our killer and it was a good thing Batman shared my bed with me or I would be having nightmares. We hoped to have wrapped this case up months ago but then every lead went cold. There were no more killings in Miami, which was to be expected because our prime suspect was living in Princeton; but there were none in New Jersey either. Meagan said it might be a cooling off period. Maybe he was focusing his attentions on the stalker. Either way Joe was still undercover and Meagan was getting frustrated. So why this morning I had to be up at the ass crack of dawn reading about murders and victim profiles was beyond me.

Seeing Joe in the conference room was weirder. I hadn't seen him since the bar. Ranger followed me in a few minutes later. He'd left me with my notes and gone out to save the world or something. Apparently, it didn't take long. He was back after half an hour. Must have been a regular sized villain and not a super one.

"Morelli, we have a body. Meagan and Jimmy are just wrapping up at the scene. They should be back any minute." Ranger said.

Santos and Brown were a few minutes behind Tank and Ranger. Then, much to my complete surprise, Lula walked in. I thought she was still in Miami.

"Hey, White Girl!" She had been spending a lot of time outside by the looks of things. Her skin was a few shades darker than normal. She looked gorgeous. She had lost almost 60lbs. Her clothes fit her and if it weren't for the fire engine red hair, I might not have recognized her.

We hugged. Joe was slack jawed. Lula was beautiful. She had always hidden behind her wardrobe. You often didn't really get to see how pretty she was because you were too busy staring at cleavage. Now, however, she looked like a badass Rangeman employee and had several less miles of cleavage.

"So, why did I get called away from the beach? I was having a fine time staring at all of those half naked hotties."

"No idea. We're waiting for Meagan to come back."

Meagan and Jimmy pulled up and parked in the sea of flashing lights. Several heads turned at the sound of her car engine and she noted, with interest, which men were drooling and which ones were adjusting their pants. She made sure that she had parked so that her side of the car was facing the scene. She spun her legs out and let them get a good look before she got out. She liked to throw new people off balance and she wasn't above using her body to do it. She climbed out gracefully and glided over to the officer in charge who just happened to be Eddie Gazzera.

"Nice car, Santos." He said and she grinned. She liked her married name.

"The body is where?"

"ME already has her. The scene is all yours though."

"Shit, Eddie." She admonished.

"I know. We didn't even make the connection to your case until an hour ago or we wouldn't have moved the body. It's not his typical style."

"Laundry room?"

"Yes." He didn't want to even guess how she knew where the body was. He wasn't privy to all of the details of this case and he wasn't sure he wanted to be.

"He was angry this time. Make sure you pay close attention to any blood evidence. It's possible some of his is there." Jimmy sidled up to her. He was looking nervous. "Don't worry, Jimbo. He cleans up after himself. There isn't much carnage to see. We're here for a vibe."

They took the stairs to the victim's fourth floor apartment first. Meagan slipped on gloves. She was right, he had been angry; he'd trashed the place. "What do you know about profiling?"

"Not much, just what I read last night after you left," he said. She cocked an eyebrow. "Zero told me that you sometimes did profiles for the FBI but that you didn't like to do it. He wasn't sure why. I've heard lots of stories about you, I know it's not because you are squeamish so I thought I'd do some research."

"And?"

"You would rather read people than crime scenes."

"Why?"

"Because a crime scene is too late."

"Well, yes, that's part of it," she agreed but didn't elaborate. "Look around. What do you see?"

"This guy is disorganized. He's trashed her place and it looks like she struggled a lot."

"He was angry, that's why he trashed the place. He took his time killing her and her body will be a mess, but she didn't struggle. Tox screen will most likely show that she had _suxamethonium chloride_ in her system when he killed her. It is a highly effective chemical restraint. She would be able to feel, see and hear but completely unable to move or speak. It is a great way to maximize terror. Look at the pattern of destruction. It's even. It's not random. There won't be any stray fibers found but maybe DNA, though I doubt it.

"He wears a paper suit and gloves. When he's done, he takes it with him unless he's trashed the place like he did this time. Then he takes the victim to the building's laundry room, strips her naked and tosses all of her clothes and the suit into a washing machine full of bleach. We think that's when he rapes her. Her body is usually found in front of the machine fully washed down with bleach inside and out and no evidence of the violation beyond some vaginal tearing."

"So he's organized."

"Very. He's not spontaneous in any way. He trashed the room because he wanted us to know he was pissed but he was selective in what he chose to destroy. Only personal items, things that potentially have great sentimental value, but he leaves alone impersonal decorations."

"And you know for sure it's this guy you are watching?"

"Pretty sure, we just can't prove it because he doesn't leave evidence."

"So if you know who it is, why are we here?"

"To make sure it was him this time and not a copycat. There was a lot of press in Miami and copying him would be a good way to hide a non-related murder." She snapped off her gloves, "We're done here."

"Don't we need to go downstairs to the laundry?"

"Nope. If they'd left the body than yes, but they didn't so there isn't much point. If there is anything to find, the CSIs and TPD will find it. Without the body all we're going to see down there is a washing machine filled with water and bleach and a paper suit. The room will be otherwise spotless."

"How do we know it's him?"

"Victimology is very specific. She has no family pictures because she doesn't keep them. He only goes after petite women who are orphaned, no family to be hurt by her loss, are naturally blonde, and in what he perceives as a man's job. She fit all of those criteria."

"You know, Tink, that kind of describes you."

"Not kind of." They went back down and ran into Carl and Big Dog. Normally there would be some good natured teasing and begging to drive her car. This time Big Dog surprised them all and gave her a hug.

"You be careful, Princess." TPD had adopted Joe's nickname for her. "He's met you and you have that look like you might want to become a massive pain in his ass." He said.

"We've heard what you are doing. This wasn't your fault. You have been pressing his buttons for months, something else has happened to set him off." Carl said. Boy did she know it.

"You boys are sweet. I'm fine." She grabbed Carl's wrist and check his watch for the time, "I have a meeting that started five minutes ago. Can you email me your notes and any pictures?"

"You got it, Princess." Carl said, "You got a kojak in that thing?" he gestured towards her car.

"No, but how awesome would that be?" She answered, "Pino's tonight?" They agreed and she went towards her car, Jimmy right on her heels.

She met Ranger and Tank at her car.

"Any point in us being here?" Ranger asked.

"Nope. It's him." Gazzera waved her over and she sighed, Ranger squeezed her hand briefly. "Let me finish up with Eddie. He's going to want to know what I saw in there; unfortunately, it's nothing new. I'll meet you back at the office."

She walked away from them and Tank looked at Jimmy, "The tracker on his car puts him two blocks from here. You stick to Tink like glue, got that?" Jimmy nodded.

RSRSRSRSRSRSR

While we were waiting on Meagan to come back, Lula and I caught up. She had been training in Miami for a couple of months and appeared to have liked it there. "To be honest, white girl, I'm thinking of staying there. I know you and Ranger are there a lot so we'll still see each other. But I like it better there."

"I bet you do. This has nothing to do with rumors of you and a certain computer expert, does it?" I teased. Tank had been like a bear with a sore paw since the rumors of Lula and Rangeman Miami's computer expert, Silvio, being an item made their way to Trenton. Lula smiled shyly and since Lula didn't have a shy bone in her body, I knew I was right on the money.

"I don't think that's all of it, but I love the guys there. It's fun being the only girl. They spoil me. I ain't never been spoiled before." She said, "Don't get me wrong; they're still kicking my ass. But they take care of me after."

"Hey, I know the feeling." I said.

"Yeah, but then I barged in and took over right, Steph?" Meagan said behind me.

"Nah, they love you but they are scared of you. They adore me. You're no threat." I grinned. Meagan and I were currently on a mission to torture the boys of Rangemen. Make them tell us who they loved better. I firmly had Hal. He was all mine, she had this new boy whipped pretty fast but I also suspected Zero was defecting to her camp especially after her distraction outfit. But, then again, Manny was mine. The competition wasn't real. Every time one of the guys chose a side we would make it our mission to turn them back. Don't think our husbands were off limits in this contest either. I just about had Les the other day when I brought him a doughnut out of my secret stash. She retaliated and I found her kicking the shit out of one of the recruits while Ranger watched. He'd been smiling.

At the end of the day though I walked by her office and saw that she had her feet in Lester's lap and was practically purring while she told him about her day and he massaged her calves. I was walking back to my cubicle when Ranger dragged me into his office and kissed me before locking his door and tossing me on the sofa. When he was done with me, he said, "No contest, Babe, although Lester and I are enjoying being fought over so keep it up." I hadn't told Meagan about the comment yet, revenge would be in order. She was apparently reading my mind because she leaned in and whispered, "Lester is enjoying the spoiling too much. I suspect Ranger is, too. How do you feel about going on another cleanse?"

I grinned and then projected my voice, "I've been feeling sluggish, too. Last time we went on that diet I had sooo much energy. I have no idea where it came from. Should we start today?"

"No time like the present." Meagan picked up our bag of doughnuts and tossed it. Lula eyed us suspiciously. Ranger and Lester both swallowed hard. Meagan grinned evilly at me and then blank faced and looked back at the room. Joe was smiling. He loved that two more alpha males were no match for the Jelly doughnut hormones.

"Why am I getting an ice cream headache while I am drinking hot chocolate?" Lula murmured.

"That only happens when..." I turned and there was Jeanne Ellen Burrows. She nodded to the room and then looked at me, "Stephanie. Good to see you." My feelings towards Jeanne were mixed. Our paths had crossed professionally here and there and she had been a pain in my ass but once I was no longer in her way she had been helpful. It was rumored that she and Ranger had a thing back in the day but I couldn't exactly complain about it with Joe in the room without looking like a hypocrite.

Jeanne looked at Meagan, "I always thought you'd be taller," she said., "Your work in Brussels was impressive. I didn't know it was possible to do that with a shoelace. It's even more impressive now that I know how much you had to stretch to do it?"

Meagan grinned, "I didn't. I stood on a chair." Jeanne laughed.

"Now I'm just jealous," she said. Meagan gestured to an empty seat.

"Now that Catwoman has graced us with her presence, the gang's all here." Meagan said to Ranger, "Unless you called in anyone else."

Ranger shook his head. He was probably wondering what was going through the heads of his men, probably for the first time ever at Rangeman the room was almost 50% women. I was the only one in the room not dressed to kill. Literally, my gun was upstairs, I'd put it on before I left the building though. Ranger looked at Morelli. "Talk." he ordered.

Joe glared at Ranger out of habit and then looked at his partner, his mouth in a stubborn line. Meagan, who was still standing, walked around the table and smacked Joe upside the head, then her look dared anyone to smile. Yeah, nobody was that dumb. Not even Ranger fucked with Tink when she was pissed.

Jeanne leaned over to me "I've always wanted to see her in action. She's the reason he trained me." she whispered. Really? Blonde, gorgeous, smart, natural ability, it made sense, "always wondered if I lived up to her."

"She might spar with you later." I whispered back,"you could find out." Jeanne was actually alright, I decided.

"Talk," Ranger repeated and Meagan glared at him, Ranger wouldn't say please to Joe, he wouldn't back down either but he had thawed a bit.

"About two weeks ago I spotted a tail. I managed to lose him and double back. It was the goon who had tested Cupcake when she and Manoso did the consultation at Beals' brother-in-law's house. This was the first time I spotted a tail. After that they must have realized I was on to them. They didn't even bother to hide it. I stayed with Linda every night for about two weeks and stayed away from the safe house because I didn't want it found. She suggested that we move in together, her father would get us a place and she would tell him she would have it swept for bugs. Repeatedly. She wanted privacy with her new boyfriend, me, and she didn't want him listening in on her sex life. I brought the arrangement up with Ranger and we decided to table that discussion until necessary.

"Then about four days ago when I took Linda home with me, there was a surprise waiting for me there and Linda was less than pleased about it. She stormed off. I caught up to her and talked her down or so I thought. Two nights ago I got to the safe house and found it full of bugs and the surprise was back. I disposed of it. I figured that anyone watching would enjoy that show. Last night it was back again and this time there were shots fired at the house. I hauled ass and got out of there."

"What was the surprise?" I asked.

"Terri Gillman." Shit.

"Can I ask what may seem like a dumb question?" Lula asked and Joe nodded, "If Linda knows that you are a fed and that your relationship is a fake, why the hell does she give a shit if you're banging Mafia Barbie in your safe house?"

I looked at Joe and saw the slight tightening around his mouth. The real question was why he was bringing her to the safe house in the first place. Then the light bulb went off, "Because he's sleeping with her. She doesn't think their relationship is fake anymore. Jesus, Joe."

"Morelli?" Ranger cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Steph's right. Only she's not the only one who doesn't think it's fake anymore." Joe said,

"What I would like to know is how Terri found the safe house in the first place." Meagan said.

"When was the last time you saw Terri?" I asked. I had a hunch. If I was right, I was going to have to fight not to laugh myself silly. This would be too easy.

"Three weeks ago I ran into her in a bar." Joe said, "She said she knew that you and I were quits and wanted to rekindle some things. That was before Linda and I... I told her that I was working and that we'd talk when I got back."

"Did she give you anything?" I asked.

Ranger caught my drift and said, "Empty your pockets." Joe stood up and did. "There." Ranger picked up the money clip Joe was using, "She planted a tracker on you."

"Don't be embarrassed, Joe, it happens to me all the damn time." I dumped my bag on the table. There were no less than 7 things with trackers hidden in them. I was getting pretty good at sorting them out. Ranger grinned. Meagan pulled out one of her guns.

"This one's my favorite." She said as she pulled out a gun, she took out the clip and added it to the pile of trackers. "Puts a completely new spin on the term tracer rounds."

"It's been on you for a month. How long have you known it was there?" Lester laughed.

"A month."

"Damn."

"It was sneaky. I'll give you that. Ranger put it there?"

"Bobby. While you were in the firing range."

"Ah."

"Seems like your ex is taking notes from the men of Rangeman," I said, "The question is why?" and then a thought occured to me, the latest victim, her name, Tina Gillian, was awfully similar to Terri Gillman, was that the reason why she was chosen? "Uh is Terri still blonde?" I asked, knowing the answer already.

"She is. That's why I'm here I bet." Jeanne said. Ranger nodded. "She fits the victimology. Stephanie and Lula are going to guard Linda? So what does that make me? Bait or eyes on Terri?"

"Tink is going to be the bait." Ranger said, "She's already pissed him off once. She's been to the latest crime scene, put on a bit of a show to get his attention; and as expected, everyone on the scene deferred to her because she's the Pixie. We're hoping he puts her in his sights."

"I'm sorry, what!?" Lester and Joe said at the same time.

"I don't think so. No way. Not going to happen." Lester said.

"I agree with Santos." Joe said, "No fucking way."

Meagan was standing beside Jeanne Ellen. Jeanne got to her feet. She pulled out her weapon and grabbed Meagan and held it to her head. Meagan reacted instantly. Her hands came up and she ejected the clip out of the gun without looking, caught it and used it to jab Jeanne in the bridge of her nose. Jeanne loosened her grip on Meagan enough that Meagan was able to use her weight to throw Jeanne off balance. She threw an elbow into Jeanne's ribs, grabbed her wrist and twisted it painfully until she dropped the gun. Meagan continued to twist until Jeanne's hand was behind her back and then she bent her over the table. I'm not sure when her gun found it's way to her hand but it had and it was pressed to the base of Jeanne Ellen's skull.

If I hadn't actually seen it I wouldn't have believed it. It literally took only a couple of seconds. Meagan never registered surprise at the sudden threat; she barely showed any emotion at all. It had been mechanical; like it hadn't required any thought. I'd seen the same expression on Ranger's face before when he was in action. Complete control. I bet her heart rate wasn't even elevated.

"Sorry. Reflex." She said and helped Jeanne up. She leaned across the table and grabbed a box of tissue and handed it to Jeanne Ellen.

"I think she can take care of herself, boys." Jeanne said holding a wad of tissue to her nose. It was bleeding and she would probably have a couple of black eyes, but her nose wasn't broken.

"Yeah, she can handle herself like that but what if he shoots her full of tranquilizer and she can't move?" Lester demanded.

"I will be moving with a bodyguard and I will have a subcutaneous tracker. We know he likes to take his time. If he takes me, you will have to find me before he can kill me," Meagan said.

"No, Meagan, just no," Lester objected. When they were working he NEVER used her name. He called her TINK like anyone else. He said it was so he didn't see the woman he loved and saw the operative instead. She did, however, just about die the day after they got married. Her heart had stopped twice and she almost bled out. It was still pretty fresh for everyone. The idea of her deliberately baiting a serial killer wasn't something he was thrilled about. I didn't really blame him. I didn't like it either. She and Ranger were very close. I don't know how he'd take losing her a second time. Also, she was my friend, I wasn't in any hurry to lose her either.

"Les, I'm going to do this to draw attention away from Terri. She doesn't know the danger she is in now. He killed last night for the first time in months because of her. He's going to start to focus on her. Jeanne is going to keep eyes on her. All I am going to do is make myself visible. It's a long shot because I think he will be going after Terri."

"You know this how?" Joe asked.

"She hurt his daughter and she's his type. You are out of it now. If when this is over you want to reconnect with Linda, by all means do it. You are a target now, too. You stay on lockdown until it's over," Meagan said.

"Like hell I will." Joe said.

She tossed her credentials at him, "Don't make me pull rank on you, Morelli."

"I'm not going to sit around and do nothing while you wander around as bait. It's not going to happen in a million years."

"No." Ranger spoke up, "you will be trading jobs with Tink and helping run the investigation from the safety of the building. She's right. It's too dangerous for you on the streets right now."

The meeting might have degenerated after that if Lula hadn't spoken up. "I think we all need a time out. Steph and I still don't know what the hell we are doing, and it's getting a little testosterone heavy. Burrows needs an ice pack and we all need lunch. I say we go to our corners and come back this afternoon."

"I'm with Lula". Tank said. He'd been silent for most of the meeting. He smiled at Lula who ignored him.

"Should I be dying my hair?" Jeanne asked.

"So far his only interest has been in blondes so it wouldn't hurt." Meagan said.

"Looks like I'm headed to the spa for the morning." She nodded to us, "Ladies."

RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

"Princess, it's about the most boring job on the planet. If you can't talk to your partner, you go insane. I don't have anything against Hector, besides that he's probably a little psychotic, but he doesn't speak English." He had her there. Hector was a little crazy, "Pair me up with anyone else."

"It's three hours. You will survive," she said. It had been two days since the meeting. She'd had to pull rank and Joe was losing his mind.

"You know, Tink, he's right," Manny said. She was about to have a revolution on her hands when Ranger and Les walked up. Ranger saw Meagan's amused expression and even though his expression didn't even change in the slightest the question was there.

"You don't do monitor duty so you don't know," Zero said, and then he started back-pedaling "not that you have to. I mean we know you're busy."

"Meagan?" Ranger asked.

"The guys were just saying that if you can't have a conversation with your partner while on monitor duty you will die of boredom. I was just telling them that it wasn't necessary."

"The core team hardly ever does it. So you guys don't understand. I bet if you had to do a six hour shift where you couldn't talk to your partner you'd have more sympathy." Joe said.

Ranger cocked an eyebrow, "I'll take that bet. In fact, for 12 hours the monitors will be run by members of the core team. Bobby has to look after a patient so he's out. You guys pick two teams."

There was intense discussion. I was considered part of the core team. I was the head of Investigations. "Tank's out. He can go actual weeks without speaking." Manny said, "Ranger and Les?"

"Nope. Bad idea." Zero said, "He and Tink are both ex-Special Forces so whoever we pair with them will be quiet because Ranger and Tink will be. No. We put Lester and Bomber together. No way can they keep their mouths shut for 6 hours."

"Hey!" I stomped my foot.

"Les is Special Forces too." Meagan said evenly.

"We have our teams." Joe said, "What are the terms?"

"Two weeks offline for the core team when this case is over." Meagan said.

"And 24 hours offline starting tomorrow at 0800," Lester said.

"Doughnuts for a week for me," I said.

"Silence on monitor duty for a week," Ranger said with an evil grin.

"If we win, shifts on the monitors go to 2 hours a shift for a week and Bomber has to buy us all doughnuts. And, we each get an extra day off" Zero said.

"Get Tank," Ranger said. Tank came grumbling out of his office. The bet was explained to him.

"Fine," Tank said. Always an arbiter of fairness he laid out the ground rules, "Rules are, you can't talk to your partner unless it's related to a client emergency. Phone is only to be used to speak to clients. Rangeman employees are only to call with case-related information. You are not allowed to speak to each other through any form of sign language. There is to be no texting or emailing back and forth. Lester and Steph start in an hour only because I need Ranger and Tink before they do their shift."

"I want to add a rule." Joe said, "No texting to anyone at all unless it's client related."

"Done," Meagan said, "we need our hour to plan."

We filed into Tank's office. He called up Bobby and we sat down, "Nice rules Tank." Bobby growled. "I could use the vacation and the day off tomorrow."

"Shut up. Ranger and I have a plan. It's too bad Vinnie's is closed; we could have used Connie." Meagan said.

"Frank and Helen are clients." Ranger pointed out, "plus there are both of our families,"

"True," Meagan said, "and we have time to go sign up Mary Lou and Lenny as clients."

"Tank draw up a schedule. Steph can last about ten minutes before she either needs to eat or speak," Ranger said.

"Hey! I'm right here!" I reminded them. I have no idea when they communicated their genius plan but they did proving they both have ESP. Just as our shift was about to start, Joe came into the room, "Good luck Cupcake. Just remember that Boston Creams are my favorite too." Meagan gave him a dirty look, crouched down beside Lester and whispered something in his ear. He turned and kissed her hard on the mouth and then grinned from ear to ear. I could guess what she said. Well played, Meagan, I thought.

"And your shift starts now." Tank said. Meagan bent down low to pick up the pencil that had fallen out of her hair when Lester kissed her and Lester took full advantage of the floor show to ogle his wife. I'm not going to lie. I may have ogled her a little bit, too.

Ten minutes went by and the phone rang. I answered it."Stephanie, it's your mother. I'm having a problem with the security system. Your grandmother keeps tripping off the alarm when she tries to sneak out the window."

"Why is she doing that?" That led to 20 minutes of my mom going into in depth gossip about the burg. When I got her off of the phone I promised that someone would be out to see if they could do something.

I sat for another 20 minutes when the phone rang again, "Stephanie, how good to hear your voice!"

"Hi, Mrs. Manoso, would you like to speak to Carlos."

"No, just whoever is on duty right now. I know he's busy." She said.

"Oh, that would be me. What can I do for you?"

We chatted for a bit before she explained her problem. The tracking device in her car was on the fritz. It kept shorting out her sat nav and she was wondering if someone could come fix it. I got off the phone. An hour and a half had already gone by. Wow. The phone rang.

"Oh, yay, you answered my first official call to Rangeman."

"Hi, Mary Lou. What can I do for you?"

"Well, the guys are here installing the alarm system and I was just wondering if you think cameras in the yard are necessary." So we talked about that for a bit. For the rest of the shift, clients called with problems and I was never off the phone for longer than ten minutes. Sure, the clients were all friends and family but still, the shift ended and I didn't have to speak to Lester once.

"That was cheating." Joe said.

"Actually, I think you will find we followed the rules exactly." Lester said.

"We have to break them." Joe said to Manny and Zero.

"Meagan and Ranger once spent six days not talking while on assignment. Six hours is nothing," Lester said. And it was. Unlike our shift the phone didn't peep once. The guys tried to distract Ranger and Tink but they were like palace guards. Neither one of them reacted. Meagan would lean forward and Ranger would glance at her and press buttons to enlarge an image on the screen. She would either sit back and he would shrink the screen or Meagan would call and send a team out. Their entire shift was uneventful. It was like the bad guys in Trenton sensed who was watching them and didn't dare step out of line.

"I believe their shift was over five minutes ago." Tank said, "I believe it was supposed to be Vince and Hal on duty now. Where are they?"

"On a call. They should be back in 20." Manny said.

"Thank you for volunteering to take their shift." Tank said ominously, "Cal will help you and tell Binkie I want him in my office,"

Meagan and Ranger stood up. She stretched on her toes and yawned, flashing a navel ring that I didn't know she had. "That was fun. We should do it again sometime."

"Don't listen ahead. We'll finish it in the car on the way to the cabin." Ranger said.

"Yeah, Tink, no spoilers. Seriously." Hector said.

Meagan and Ranger took out ear pieces and handed them to Hector. "Tank has all the power. He's the one that downloaded the book." The boys were staring open-mouthed at them.

"It was a six-hour shift where nothing happened. You need to do something to keep your mind occupied," Meagan said.

"That's cheating," Joe said again.

"I don't think so. There were no rules stating that we couldn't listen to books. Just no music."

We were surrounded by angry goldfish.

"I think we should make it a rule now though, don't you, Tink?" Tank asked.

"Absolutely."

"Why are you smiling?" I looked up at Ranger who looked incredibly pleased with himself.

"I'm just thinking about how quiet it's going to be around here for the next week," he said. He checked his watch and tapped Meagan's arm, "We'd better go, Hermana." She got to her feet, gave Lester a quick kiss and followed Ranger down the stairs to the garage.

"Where are they going?" Zero asked.

"They have a surveillance shift to do." Lester said and I shuddered. Surveillance after six hours on monitor duty? Their asses were going to be completely numb. "What do you say, Beautiful? You inviting Bobby, Tank and I up for a victory dinner?"

"Sounds good to me!"

RSRSRSRSRSRS

Lester Santos was bored for the very first time in his life. He'd never before been bored and he didn't know what to do with himself which, he supposed, was the point. We aren't talking the kind of boredom that comes from an afternoon of sitting around doing nothing which is what he did in front of the monitors. We're talking the kind of boredom that develops when you feel like your life is missing something. His life was missing something. He had officially retired from the military; he wasn't going in the wind anymore. He never thought he would miss it but he did. He missed the adrenaline. Any action lately had been few and far between. No redecorating jobs, no major busts, and the work on the Beals case was interesting but it wasn't exactly a thrill.

He sat in his office looking over the request sent to him by Generals Frakes and Vadrine and he was torn. He didn't want to leave Meagan. She still wasn't right from everything she'd been through; she often woke up screaming in the night. She'd always been plagued with nightmares, but they were worse than he'd ever seen them and he wasn't going to leave her knowing that she needed him. She was being treated for PTSD and she had developed severe claustrophobia. Being locked in a trunk for days would have that effect on anybody. He was contemplating running it by Bobby when there was a knock on his office door.

He looked up when the door opened, "I'm going to kill Morelli." Tank said and Lester smiled. He liked Morelli. "He's worse at being locked up than Bomber is."

"And you want me to fix this how?"

Tank tossed a folder on Lester's desk. Lester opened it and quickly scanned it, "It will be a dull job but maybe you two can talk shit and he'll feel like he's being useful and won't be pissing me off anymore. At the very least it's a couple of hours out of the office and hopefully putting an end to nuisance calls. Your wife has already okayed it." Lester grinned; of course she knew he was bored.

"Where is Morelli now?"

"Staring at the monitors because he has nothing better to do," Tank replied and left. Lester read the rest of the file, got up from his desk and tucked his gun into the back of his pants. He opened the door and stepped right into the monitor room. He slapped Morelli on the back of the head and Morelli took his feet off of the desk and looked up.

"Come on, man. Let's go find something to do. Bring your gun."

"With an offer like that how could I possibly refuse?"

They got to the garage and Morelli looked longingly at Meagan's new wheels. "If we didn't have to blend in man, we'd be in the Devil's Lambo." Lester said, "It's not exactly subtle." The Devil's Lambo was a fitting description of the car. There was something sinister about the lines of the Veneno and the black red just added to that. Meagan had spoken to a friend at Lambourghini and had him choose the color. It was somewhere between black cherries and blood.

"How did she get one so fast?"

"She knows people."

"That's a common answer when it comes to her, isn't it?"

Lester grinned and beeped open one of the black Explorers and climbed in the front. Twenty minutes later they were parked down the block from a jewelry store under a burnt out street light and staring at a dark empty street. "This is only marginally more exciting than staring at the monitors," Joe observed.

"Yeah but you gotta look at it this way; it's like the difference between watching a ball game on TV and at Yankee Stadium. It's about the experience." Lester replied. Joe chuckled and took a sip of his coffee.

"Why are we here?"

"A couple of punks keep tripping the alarm at that jewelry store down there; by the time we get there they are gone. Nicky Nicky Fucking Nine Doors. It's a waste of our time and resources so we are here to strongly discourage it." Twenty more minutes went by without even so much as foot traffic down the street. Lester blew out a sigh and slumped back in his seat.

"You look bored." Joe said.

"I am bored." Lester replied.

"I get the feeling that's not a good thing…"

"I dunno. I've never been bored before. It's a new experience for me."

"How can you be bored married to Meagan? I'd think she would keep you on your toes."

Lester laughed, "Meagan Harris is an adrenaline rush personified and I'm never bored around her. Problem is, I only see her for a couple of hours a day at the most. My marriage isn't in any way the problem. Bobby says I'm having reentry issues now that I'm done with the military. I can't re-up because I can't do that to Meagan. She'd be supportive but she'd also want to come with me and would hate that she can't. But my particular skill sets aren't exactly high in demand here. The Psychology shit is her deal. I just back her up when she needs it. I need a new focus that isn't personnel or paperwork." Having no answer to Lester's dilemma Joe abandoned that line of conversation.

"I don't like that she's out there as bait. I don't know how you are standing it."

"I fucking hate it but it's her job and she is good at it. I fell in love with all of her, not just the good bits. She can't stay behind a desk any more than I can and asking her to stay away from trouble is about as smart as commenting on a woman's weight." Joe was about to say something more when they finally had some action. Two teenagers dressed in black hoodies with the hoods pulled up over their faces, walked up to the store. "They could be more obvious," Lester said casually and tilted his head slightly as if trying to figure out just how stupid the punks in front of them were. "Stay back and let me handle it, I've got energy to burn." He got out of the car without bothering to do normal things like make noise and strolled over to the two punks about to break into the shop.

"The response time for the security company has been 8 minutes the last three times we set off the alarms so let's grab as much shit as we can in 4 and book," Punk Number one said.

"You got your gloves on right?"

"Yeah."

Lester stood behind them with a grin on his face, just waiting, watching to see how they were tripping the alarms. One of the punks produced a lock picking kit and spent about five minutes working the lock. Amateurs. The alarm tripped as soon as they opened the door, "Okay, four minutes starting now."

"Boo!" Lester said behind them and they both jumped and yelled. "I'm sorry am I early? I can come back in five minutes." He motioned over his shoulder with his thumb, a look of innocence on his face. They both made to take off and Lester's arm shot out and grabbed the back of the lead kid's sweatshirt and yanked him backwards into his partner then stepped out of the way as they both landed on their asses. One of them reached for a gun and Joe stepped up weapon drawn and stopped his partner from doing the same while Lester efficiently disarmed and cuffed his associate. "A water gun? You've got to be fucking kidding me." Lester handed the gun to Joe who held a similar one in his hand. His look of disgust mirrored Lester's "Here's a good safety tip, don't bring fake weapons to a robbery."

"It's a really great way to get yourself ventilated," Joe added as they dragged the kids back to the Explorer. They locked them into the back and climbed back in. A technical team was on the way to replace the damaged locks and reset the codes.

As soon as they saw the flash of the lights of the back up car they pulled away. "Boo?" Joe asked with a grin.

"It felt right. Why? Too much?"

"No, I liked it."

Once they got the punks dropped off and booked they decided they had earned a pizza. Lester took them to Shorty's. They walked into the bar and Lester held up 5 fingers and then two. Two pepperoni and five Rangeman pizzas, fully loaded pizzas with extra hot sauce. Heartburn on a pie, basically. Might as well treat the office. Lester walked over to the pool table and Joe dropped a twenty on it. Lester shrugged indifferently and produced a bill of his own. He let Joe break sinking two stripes in succession then scratched. Lester ran the table from that point.

"It would have been easier if you'd just pocketed the money from the beginning. It would have saved me from looking like an idiot. What the fuck was that?"

"I'm gifted," Lester said with a shrug. "Besides being a Sex God and exceptionally good looking, I apparently have exceptional visual acuity as well as 'super human' spatial intelligence. Whatever. It means I never miss what I'm aiming at."

"You were a sniper."

"I am a sniper. I haven't stopped being a sniper; there just hasn't been much call for those particular skill lately. Why are you stressing about Meagan in the field? Is there something you left out of your report?"

"Gut says this is very wrong. That we are missing something big and obvious. I don't think he's the killer we think he is."

"Why?"

"I spent a lot of time around him and, to be honest, I don't think he's smart enough. The man doesn't do anything without staff there to back him up. He gets off on giving people orders. Sure he hates strong women but he doesn't have the control required to keep the crime scenes clean."

"He's former military and a pilot. He might have more control than you think."

"I'm former military and I have a short fuse. Ask anyone who saw Steph and me fighting in the Police Station. If I were to kill someone, I doubt I'd be detail-oriented enough to take all of the forensic counter measures that this killer does."

"That's fair, I guess," Lester mused. "What's your take on the wife and daughter?"

"Mom is Edna Mazur 40 years ago. Does everything her husband says to the letter, is repressed and ready to break free. Linda is the apple of her father's eye and could get away with murder as long as she keeps herself in a woman's role. Nurse works for him. I'm sure he's connected; I just think that if he's actually the one doing the killing, then he's not working alone." Joe took a swig of his beer, "That's not my only concern."

"Yeah?"

"Beals lived in Boston before he lived in Miami; he didn't show up in any of our checks because they were living in a friend's house while Beals was getting his company established. I want to look at timing. I just think it's interesting that three of the cities Meagan owns property in happen to be places Beals has lived. I think we should get someone checking to see if Boston is where he started killing and when."

"You think Meagan doesn't just fit the victimology; you think she's his original focus?"

"I'm saying we should look into it. I don't like coincidences."

Lester checked his watch, "It's 2200. Let's get back to Haywood. We'll give it to Hector. I don't think he knows how to sleep. If there is a connection on paper somewhere, he'll find it. The problem is that if their military careers crossed paths, we won't be able to find it. Meagan wasn't kidding when she said that her record had been redacted to the point of being useless. There might be a crossover that we won't be able to find. If she crossed paths with him in Iraq or Afghanistan she might not have met him at all. You saw how Jimmy looks star struck by her? It's because she's famous in certain circles. Beals may have spotted her on a base and heard the stories."

They were silent for the drive back to Rangeman. When the gate didn't go up right away when he pulled into the garage and he had to actually fob the gate open, Lester became tense. "Something' s wrong. The guys on the monitors open the gates for Rangeman vehicles unless there is an emergency."

"Another body?"

"Maybe," Lester said. He parked the car and got out. He scanned the lot and didn't see Ranger's truck, "They should have been back by now." Lester and Joe took the stairs two at a time to five. Steph and Tank were standing in the control room. Tank's mouth was in a tight line and Steph was pale.

When Steph saw Joe and Lester her lower lip trembled, "They're gone, Les."

"Maybe they got a lead and…" Lester started knowing he was grasping at straws and that they would call in anything they found.

"No, man. Their relief found his truck empty at the house they were supposed to be surveilling, all trackers inside. Julio hasn't been down to do the sub-que ones yet. We have no way of knowing where they are."

"What about history? Do we know..." Tank held up his hand to stop Lester from speaking.

"Hector pulled up their history and found this security footage from a Starbucks."

He pressed a couple of buttons on one of the keyboards in front of the screens.

The footage showed Meagan and Ranger walking into the Starbucks; they were obviously bickering affectionately and from the way he gestured towards her feet it obviously had something to do with Meagan's lack of footwear. For some strange reason she was only wearing socks. They walked up to the cash and placed their order then went around the counter to wait for their tea to come up. They both visibly tensed then Ranger grabbed Meagan and tossed her out of the way. He dove right after her as a large black panel van crashed through the side of the building. They both came up, guns drawn as the building flooded with men dressed in black with ski masks on. The men from the truck began firing at everything and the Barristas behind the counter, went down. Ranger managed to take out four of the men before he got tasered. Meagan was a smaller target and harder to hit. She managed to tag two more men before she was tasered and went down. The remaining men dragged the two of them out of the building and that's when the video cut out.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Two kids in school and a college student cousin living in my basement asking for help with homework, means my writing had to take a little break. I'm aiming to post story updates on Mondays and Thursdays. Thanks to my Beta, Di for everything she does. I own nothing it's all JE's.**

Ranger woke up in shackles. His arms were chained to the ceiling and although he was fully stretched out his feet were flat on the floor. He had been disarmed but that's about it. He could still feel his wallet in his back pocket but his keys were gone. He kept his eyes closed listening for the sound of anyone else in the room, all he heard was the deep even breathing of somebody asleep. He cracked an eye and saw Meagan sitting in a simple wooden dining room chair, her hands cuffed to the arm rests. She was still out cold. He didn't know how long she had fought after he went down; but that didn't matter, her insomnia meant that if she went out she stayed out longer than most. Fortunately, all of her clothes were still intact. All he could do at this point was wait. He didn't want them to know that he was conscious yet.

_"__Fuck again?"_ Meagan cursed, in Finnish of all languages, and he smiled. She looked up at him and assessed the situation. "You all right?" She mouthed and he nodded then looked up at his wrists then back down at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." she muttered. She tried to slip the cuffs, wouldn't be the first time she'd done it; but it would be no joy this time. They were too tight. She looked around the room again and her eyes fixated on Ranger's belt. "Maybe we leave this part out when we debrief? I don't think Stephanie and Lester are going to like it." She shifted her chair closer to Ranger and then used her feet to peel off her socks. She stuck one leg out and began unbuckling his belt with her toes.

Yeah, no way was he volunteering this information to Stephanie. She got the buckle undone and began pulling his belt off and cursed when it got snagged on a belt loop. She inched even closer and used her teeth to finish taking his belt off. He really, really wasn't going to volunteer this information to Stephanie.

She got the belt in her hand, used the prong of the belt buckle to pick the locks on her cuffs and freed herself. She stood on the chair beside Ranger and groaned. There was no way she could reach the locks on Ranger's shackles by standing on the chair and she cursed her diminutive stature… Not for the first time in her life. "Brace yourself Carlos," she said softly then got down off the chair and moved it out of the way. She got a running start, launched herself at her long time friend and wrapped her legs around his waist. Then, belt in her teeth, she shimmied up his body until her legs were wrapped around his broad chest, her breasts were in his face but, more importantly, she could reach the locks on his restraints. He felt the flex of her strong thighs as she worked and tried not to think about what she was doing.

"Hurry up Tink, before I have to let Lester kill me," he muttered. She freed one hand which he then used to hoist her ass up further and to add additional support so she could get the other shackle unlocked. Once freed, he lowered her straight to the ground. He pulled her into a quick hug and kissed the top of her head. "Lester is a lucky guy. You've got talents I didn't want to know you had." one side of her mouth kicked up in a half smile.

"All right, Carlos, time to stop being decorative. Do your thing."

"With pleasure." He picked up the chair she'd been sitting on and shattered it against the wall. She grabbed one of the broken legs to use as a club if necessary and they waited. They didn't have to wait long. The noise of the chair breaking brought their guards rushing in guns drawn. Ranger was waiting by the door and snapped the first one's neck, Meagan grabbed the guard's gun on his way down and shot the second guard in the head before he'd even registered what happened to his partner.

She dropped and began searching the bodies while Ranger stood watch. Their luck was holding. There were only two guards and their weapons had silencers. She found a couple of extra clips for the weapons, an iPhone and a knife. She pocketed the phone and pulled the knife out.

"Hurry up, we're about to get more company." He glanced down just as she shoved something else in her pocket and then dragged both bodies fully into their cell. Ranger signalled that two more guards were on the way and Meagan stood ready to shoot. They neutralized the guards and put them in the cell with the other bodies. It didn't take long to realize that they were in the basement of a rather large house.

"Reminds me of home," Meagan whispered. "Only daddy didn't have a dungeon in the basement." Ranger smirked and motioned for silence. They could hear footsteps coming so they stepped into a doorway of what looked like a storage room and Meagan tried the door. It was unlocked. She opened it and they slipped inside and scanned the room. "Carlos," she whispered. He turned his attention briefly away from the men coming down the hall. If he'd been a different man he would have gasped in shock. They were in a shrine to the two of them.

There were pictures of them in uniform, newspaper articles about Rangeman, magazine articles about Humphries from the year before. They did a quick scan of the room. "Shit, Carlos." Meagan held up a photograph of the two of them. In it they were sitting on his grandmother's front step holding hands. She had her head on his shoulder and he was kissing her hair. She was wearing one of his hooded sweatshirts over a pair of cut offs and she had a cast on her right arm. The picture had been taken when she was 12. She shoved the picture inside of her top.

"Lock it down." He said sternly. The order was as much for himself as it was for her, "We've got company. Collect anything important and we'll analyze it later." He went to the door to wait and she went to work going through the room. She heard the telltale whistle of a silencer a couple of times and she slipped out of the door behind Ranger. They weren't going to investigate further. The name of the game was get the fuck out of Dodge. They kept trying doors, looking for exits until, finally, they found a mudroom and were able to slip out back. It took all of about two seconds to determine that they were in the middle of fucking nowhere in the middle of the night and they hoofed it to the tree line on the edge of the property.

"Where the fuck are we?" She asked when they got there.

"Damned if I know." Ranger said, "Philly maybe? What happened to celestial navigation?"

"I left my sextant and star charts in my other bra." She quipped back.

"We need wheels."

"Would you like me to fashion you a vehicle out of twigs and stones?" She patted herself down, "Sorry I left those tools in my other bra, too."

"Someone's testy."

"I have a headache."

"I don't suppose the bra you're wearing is the one with the phone in it?"

"As it happens, it's not, because the phone is in my pocket. I lifted it from one of the guards." He rolled his eyes and she reached into her pocket and pulled out the iPhone and something small and pink. She pressed the pink thing to the phone and grinned.

"Is that a thumb?" Ranger asked.

"Phone unlocks with a fingerprint scan."

"Stephanie would have hurled if I had done that," he commented mildly.

"Then it's a good thing I did it and that you aren't Stephanie," she returned absently as she opened the Maps app. "We're about an hour outside of Boston." She took a screenshot of the map that showed their position, snapped a couple of pictures of the house and then changed the settings on the phone so she didn't have to cart the thumb around with her. She handed the digit to Ranger who promptly tossed it into the woods.

"Let's go boost a car." He suggested.

"I feel like I'm 12 again…"

They found a Lincoln Navigator in the driveway with the doors unlocked, "Fortune smiles!" She said and Ranger grinned, unlocked the door and tossed her into the SUV. A few seconds later he got the car started. They made sure they were well clear of the house and without a tail before they called Tank. The call was brief. They didn't want to keep the phone for too long. As soon as Tank called back with the information they needed Meagan opened the window.

"Shame. I like the phone. Remind me, I want to buy myself one when we get back." and with that she tossed the phone out onto the interstate where is shattered.

RSRSRSRSRSRSRS

Lester and Joe were going over every detail in the video footage from the Starbucks. Julio was in Boston using his tech guys there to pull up every possible lead on Beals they could find that we might have missed here. I was doing what I could from my end, which consisted of going through open cases and looking for anyone recent who might have a score to settle and coordinating my information with the boys in Boston. Miami, New York and Atlanta were doing the same (We were running everything through Julio because he ran the three out of the other four offices, he knew what men to put where). Lula and Bobby were at the truck looking for evidence and Tank was staring at the phone in my cubicle, willing it to ring with a lead, a tip, anything. When it did ring, he hit the speaker phone button so hard I was concerned that the phone was going to go through my desk.

"Talk."

"Have Hector trace this call for our location." Ranger barked. Tank motioned for one of the men to get Hector, Lester and Joe. I wanted to say something but my heart was in my throat and I couldn't speak. If Tank was surprised to hear Ranger's voice, he didn't show it. "Tink is going to read off a VIN, I want the GPS disabled from the truck we are in and I want a clean-up team to meet us at whatever RV point they think will be safe. We're going to ditch our wheels there. Let us know where we are going. I want security on Stephanie doubled; Lester doesn't leave the building without back up; Morelli doesn't leave the building period and I want Burrows and Gilman brought in and put in the safe house in the basement. Once everyone is inside I want the building on lockdown. Get me Hector."

"Here, Hermano. Are you alright?" He asked and squeezed my shoulder. All three men plus Tank were now crowded into my cube.

"We're fine," he said curtly. "I want all key fobs reprogrammed and ours disabled."

"Already done. We have video of you getting grabbed, Hermano."

"I want it processed and every detail pulled from it," Meagan said. Her voice didn't sound right. Lester tensed and looked at Tank. He nodded to Lester, telepathic message received. "Are you at one of your computers?"

"We're in Stephanie's cubicle. I've made it so she has access to everything I do." That was news to me, "What do you need?"

"Pull everything from this phone: Pictures, emails, video, text messages. Everything." Tank grabbed the back of my chair and wheeled me out of Hector's way. I watched as Hector took my place and his fingers began to fly over the keys. Pictures started popping up on the screen and then disappeared to wherever he sent them at high speeds.

"There is security footage from your location; he could access it from the phone." Hector said.

"Follow protocol," Meagan said. "Tank, contact Frakes, let him know about the video and tell him that Ranger and I are going to need access to our service records in their entirety."

"I've got everything I can get from the phone," Hector said.

"Good. Make the calls." Ranger said.

"Julio is in Boston." Tank replied.

"Tell him Tink needs shoes." Ranger disconnected.

"What the fuck is going on? And why doesn't Meagan have shoes?" I demanded.

"She didn't have them in the coffee shop either; she probably took them off in the truck." Lester squeezed my hand. "The important thing right now is that they are alive and safe. We'll worry about details when they get back" He turned to Tank, "You heard it?"

"Go do what you need to do. Morelli, help him. You will need Ella's help." Lester and Joe left the cube and Tank picked up the phone and dialled Rangeman Boston, "Get me Santos."

"Yo."

"Ranger and Tink are on their way to you." He relayed the orders and Julio was silent for a couple of beats.

"How bad?"

"Disarm them immediately."

"She been sleeping?"

"No idea. Your brother is prepping. I'd be happier if we could put more than a floor between them."

"Lock down, Tank. That was the order." The command in Julio's voice was unmistakable and Tank reacted the way he would have if Ranger had given the order.

"Yes, Sir."

"I'm going to go to the scene after I get them on the chopper. I imagine that Lester and Mrs. Ranger would rather have them locked up in your building than locked down here."

"Lester is already prepping."

"I'll be there tomorrow." He disconnected and Tank and I shared a moment of mutual relief before he went back into command mode and started issuing orders again.

RSRSRSRSRSRS

"Hey, Baby, how was your night?" Lester asked as he casually draped an arm around Meagan's shoulders when she and Ranger came into the office a few hours later.

"You know - same old same old - got kidnapped, escaped with just a bit of death and dismemberment. You?" She quipped with a flat smile that didn't reach her eyes. Like her voice on the phone, it was just wrong.

Before they arrived we received word their ride was two minutes out so we had congregated in the Control Room to wait for them. Tank didn't want any of us outside and exposed in any way until Ranger gave orders otherwise. That included the roof.

As soon as I saw Ranger I ran to him and hugged him. He held me tight while burying his face in my curls briefly before he stiffened and stepped out of the hug.

"Conference room two is clear," Hector said and we all trooped in. Meagan sat down at the table and was immediately flanked by Les and Bobby. Ranger sat as far away from her as he could get with Hector and I on either side of them.

"Report," Ranger ordered.

"The kids working at the coffee shop are alive and expected to make full recoveries. One of them is going to need rehab to walk again. We're already covering medical expenses for both of them; you want lost wages, too?" Tank answered.

"They are going to need more than that," Meagan said, "Double it and let me know about outstanding student loans. I'll be paying them off. Next."

"Security footage from both the Starbucks and the house are being scrubbed," Hector said. "Clean up crews went to the house and Julio says it's a ghost town. Not even bodies left lying around. They are going through computers as we speak but it looks like they've been wiped. Property belongs to Beals…" he was interrupted by a knock on the door and both Meagan and Ranger reached for non-existent weapons. Lester and Bobby each put a calming hand on Meagan. Hector did the same to Ranger and I followed suit. I was getting really freaked out by them. I'd never actually seen Ranger immediately after he had been in the wind. He usually decompressed at his house before coming back to Trenton and to me. I didn't like seeing him on edge like this and wanted to do something to help. I went to hold his hand and he shook his head slightly in the negative.

"Come." Tank barked and Zero walked in. "General Vadrine called." Vadrine and Frakes had been Meagan's handlers for almost all of her career and they were extremely protective of her, not only as an asset but because they genuinely liked her. "He can't give you access to your full records. He's watched the footage Hector sent him. He wants the Boss Lady to call as soon as she's decompressed to go over what you are looking for."

"Thank you Zero." Bobby said, "Call him back and tell him 24 hours starting from 0700 tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir." He walked out of the room.

"Want to tell us what happened in there?" Tank asked.

"No. Watch the video." Ranger stood and took my hand and pulled me to my feet. It wasn't a gentle tug but it didn't hurt either. As soon as I was on my feet, he dropped my hand.

We stepped out of the conference room and went to the elevator. Ranger looked at me.

"Right, you don't have keys anymore," I said then pulled my keys out of my pocket and tapped it to the control panel. He hit 7. He wouldn't look at me or touch me and I was getting nervous. I didn't think I had done anything wrong and, as far as I knew, I couldn't remember a time Ranger had ever been angry with me. Not even after I had stunned him in the ass and dumped him in the emergency room in Hawaii. Sure he'd wanted to talk afterward but he wasn't pissed. Mostly I think he was impressed that I incapacitated him.

Just like Meagan hadn't been right there was something not right about Ranger. I guess it is understandable given what had happened; but I didn't know what to do. I reached for him and he stepped away. "Wait," he said. It wasn't a "no" so I took heart from it. He wasn't rejecting me.

The doors opened to seven and I let us into the apartment. The door slammed behind me and Ranger pushed me up against the wall. He knee was between my legs and his hand pinned my hands above my head. His free hand was lightly gripping my throat. My pulse rocketed up to near stroke level in a combination of fear and arousal. "If you want me to stop, tell me and then leave. Go to four and stay there until Bobby or Tank comes to get you," he growled. "I won't be able to stop myself if I get started so be sure of what you want Stephanie."

My eyes went wide at the thought of an out of control Ranger; he closed his eyes and turned his head away. "If you're scared of me, leave now," he said, his teeth clenched as he fought to hang onto his self control. I could see the struggle on his face and that little bit of fear evaporated. He might be aggressive, almost out of control and maybe even a little feral; but this was Ranger. He would never hurt me. I've never backed away from him before and I wasn't about to do so now. He needed me and just like he was always there for me, I needed to be there for him. I put my hand on his cheek and turned his head so he was facing me again. He opened his eyes; his stare was penetrating and I met it without blinking.

"Kiss me."

RSRSRSRSRSRS

_AN: Lemon? No Lemon? I'm on the fence. _

_Oh and not to be a total attention whore but ummm tomorrow is my birthday! A review would make a wonderful present!_


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Sorry for the wait! My kids decided that they each wanted to give me different cold and I've been gross and pathetic for a week now. In this chapter we get to meet Lester's brother and there is what I'm gonna call smut lite because I just couldn't ****really get my mojo going while hopped up on cold meds. Please enjoy. Thanks to Di for making my NyQuil induced ramblings into something readable. **

_"__If you're scared of me, leave now," he said, his teeth clenched as he fought to hang onto his self control. I could see the struggle on his face and that little bit of fear evaporated. He might be aggressive, almost out of control and maybe even a little feral; but this was Ranger. He would never hurt me. I've never backed away from him before and I wasn't about to do so now. He needed me and just like he was always there for me, I needed to be there for him. I put my hand on his cheek and turned his head so he was facing me again. He opened his eyes; his stare was penetrating and I met it without blinking._

_"__Kiss me."_

One day, just after I married Ranger, I was sitting in the truck listening to Bill Engval on satellite radio. He was talking about sex in the movies. He was talking about hot, angry sex, where clothes get torn off in the heat of passion and he said, "Sex ain't like that in real life, because unless there is already a hole in them those panties ain't ripping and then all you're doing is yankin' on their underwear." I remember laughing myself sick over that.

What he forgot to mention was that with certain men it is exactly like it is in the movies. One touch from Ranger and my panties practically tore themselves off. What should have been worrying me at that point was fuck the panties because while he was kissing me senseless I somehow lost my actual pants! I remember feeling the tug and hearing the tear of my underwear disappearing but I was sure I had been wearing pants before that. I say 'should have' because at the time I was too preoccupied by my t-shirt being yanked over my head and wondering why he didn't just make it disappear like my pants.

I didn't have time to contemplate that long as he was lifting me up off the floor and pressing me further into the wall. I was grateful for how much time he spent in the gym since he did it like I weighed nothing and I'm not exactly dainty. I wound my legs around him and tugged impatiently at his shirt while he used his teeth to pull the cup of my bra out of his way so he could take a nipple in his teeth. This completely short circuited my fine motor skills which made taking his shirt off now a job as difficult as painting the Mona Lisa on the side of a moving train, with a paint roller. I was mostly naked and he had everything on and that just wasn't working for me. I growled in frustration and felt him smile against my skin.

"Hang on," h e said and carried me to the bedroom where he dropped me back on the bed and peeled off his shirt. God I loved him shirtless like that. I bit my lip as I took him in; all perfect and sculpted. It never got old. My moan of appreciation brought another smile to his lips and suddenly I had my Ranger back. It was like a switch had turned off and the scary was gone.

I sat up and began working his belt buckle. As soon as I got it undone, I pushed his pants down his hips and he shucked them off. He gently lowered me back onto the bed and began gently kissing everything he'd caressed roughly in the front hall as if he was trying to kiss hurts better, hurts that didn't exist. It was like he was trying to make amends for something he did wrong and I wanted to stop him. To tell him that I was okay; but I was selfish. I liked how he was making up to me. The feather light kisses against my skin were giving me goose bumps and the gentle caress of his hands felt like they were everywhere leaving a path of fire in their wake. When he finally made it back to my lips, his kiss was full of need but I could feel him trying to hold back.

"Don't" I whispered as I stared into his eyes. "I want it all, Batman. I need you to lose control." His eyes flashed again, his kiss was fierce and I saw stars as he hitched my leg further up his hip and he drove inside me. His whole body stilled and every muscle tensed under my touch so I looked up at his face to see if everything was all right.

"You're beautiful," he said and began to move at an agonizingly slow pace. Our eyes were locked onto each other and what he was doing was slow, delicious torture. I could tell it wasn't about me. He wasn't holding back, he was savoring, big difference. Holding back for my sake would have just frustrated me. This made my eyes roll back in my head and made me feel every gloriously slow, deep thrust. I barely noticed that the pace was increasing. I was just one giant nerve ending being strummed for pleasure and I felt myself tensing, knowing that it was only going to get better. Ranger's arms were beginning to shake as I clung to him, unable to control my own body anymore, as he wrung every ounce of pleasure out of me before I cried out as wave after wave of release flooded my body. I thought I was going to drown in sensation. Ranger bit down gently on my shoulder as he followed me into oblivion and collapsed on top of me shuddering with his own climax.

He recovered just enough to roll onto his back bringing me with him so that I was sprawled bonelessly over top of him. I was listening to his heart pounding in his chest and was lulled into a trance by the rise and fall of his chest as our breathing slowed.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"For what?"

"Scaring you. I shouldn't have…"

"What, given me new fantasy material?" I teased, "Because it was very hot, Batman. I'm not going to be able to walk into this apartment without thinking about how I'd like to get ravished against the wall by the front door," He chuckled softly and idly tangled his hands in my hair. I both loved and hated when he did this. I loved it because it was mutually relaxing. I hated it because when he played with my hair, it was always very scary the next morning. At the moment though I couldn't have cared less about bad hair, "You don't scare me, Ranger. You wouldn't hurt me; it's not in your nature." His hand had left my hair and he was now tracing lazy circles up and down my spine causing me to practically purr with contentment, "Do you want to talk about what happened tonight?" I almost asked, but what I really said was, "Do you waaaaannnnaatakbooutwhathaaapnnight?" Because I yawned half way through the sentence and my mouth refused to stop speaking the sentence I'd already started.

He laughed. "Want to run that by me again, Babe?"

"Do you want to talk about what happened tonight?"

"It was like when we were first partners and we would go out without Tank. It was easy to just slip into the old roles. We were bickering about her boots when I saw the headlights out of the corner of my eye and hauled her out of the way. I remember reaching for each other's guns because it was quicker than going for our own and we both knew it. I always know exactly what she's going to do when we are in a tight spot because we think so much alike. I remember thinking that I had missed that." He was quiet for a few minutes, "I remember seeing the two kids behind the counter get shot and killing one of the men doing the shooting. After that I don't remember much until we woke up."

"Getting your brain scrambled with electricity will do that."

"Yeah. Then I woke up and was hanging from the ceiling by my wrists." He told me about the rest of the escape, but he was glossing over bits that he knew I wouldn't like to hear. When he was finished speaking, I straddled him and kissed him deeply.

"I know you don't like what you had to do tonight and, call me selfish, but I'm happy you did because it means you're home. I can't lose you, Carlos Manoso." He caressed the back of my neck and pulled me back down for another slow, deep kiss before he rolled me back under him.

RSRSRSRSRSRS

"Do what you need to do." That's what Tank said. That meant making sure all of their weapons were locked in the safe, the apartments were set up for maximum comfort and to have first aid kits ready. Lester had Ella bring tweezers and magnifying glasses from the infirmary and added them to the kits. There had been a lot of glass at the scene and Meagan hadn't been wearing shoes, but bitching about glass in her feet is not something she would do when there were more important things to worry about.

While Joe searched for weapons stashed for convenience around the apartments, Ella and Lester took care of the random details such as placing large brown paper evidence bags in each of the bathrooms to put their clothes in, turning on the heated floors in each bathroom, and making sure the towels were on the warmers. They also ensured there was ready-to-eat food in the fridge, if necessary. It didn't take long and then time seemed to crawl as they waited for Meagan and Ranger to get back.

It was all Lester could do not to drag her into his arms and up to their apartment the second he saw her. She was deep in her head and she was limping. There was something else he couldn't put his finger on either and it kept niggling at the back of his mind. She hadn't been violated sexually. Ric would have known and she would be at the hospital. Something was really bothering her though. It was like she wasn't there. As soon as he was sure that the Manosos were safely on seven, he walked her to the stairs. He disabled the cameras in the stair well and immediately picked her up so she wasn't walking on her poor tortured feet anymore.

He was hoping that it was the pain that kept her from opening up to him. He carried her straight to the bathroom and sat her down on the counter. He untied the simple white sneakers she was wearing. Her socks were sticky with blood and Lord knows what else. He carefully pulled them off of her feet trying hard not to feel like a bastard when she winced. He carefully placed the socks and shoes in the paper evidence bag. Next he pulled off her t-shirt and bra and put them in the bag. Unable to resist, he placed a kiss on her collar bone and it elicited a small smile. He unbuckled her belt and she lifted her hips so he could drag her pants and underwear down her shapely legs leaving her naked and still sitting on the counter. He gently swung her legs around and placed her feet in the sink full of cool water. "Don't move," he said and carried the bag out to the hallway where Bobby was waiting to take it down to their lab for processing.

He went to the bathroom again and his heart broke at how listless she was. It was too soon for her to be in a situation like this. Not after everything she had just been through. He walked to the tub and turned it on then went to her and pulled one of her feet out of the sink. The water was tinged pink with her blood and he felt for her. He painstakingly removed all of the tiny slivers of glass that were embedded in each of her feet and cleaned what dirt he could out of the tiny lacerations. He was on her second foot when she finally spoke.

"I should feel bad about what I did tonight Les but I don't." She told him everything she remembered. He carefully finished cleaning up her feet as he listened intently to what she had to say. She hugged her knees to her chest while she spoke, her tone flat, her eyes distant.

"You shouldn't feel bad about what you did, Meagan. You did what you needed to do. You know what Beals is like; you know what he would have done to you if you hadn't done exactly what you did. I wouldn't even really blame you if you had enjoyed it a little."

"That's just it Lester, I didn't feel _anything_. I felt detached, almost like I wasn't there. I was locked in a small, dimly lit, windowless room and I wasn't the least bit anxious. Elevators make me nervous now. I should have been trying not to freak out and instead I just didn't care. I mean I cut off a man's thumb tonight so I could unlock his phone. I should be feeling sick about it now but there's nothing." She shivered and he remembered that she was naked and sitting on a cold marble counter top.

He picked her up and set her down on the edge of the hot bath. Meagan swung her legs around and hissed at the initial sting of the hot water hitting the cuts on her feet then she sank herself into the hot water sighing as it began softening the tense muscles in her neck and her weirdly stiff shoulders. She smiled as she heard the soft thump of Lester's pants hitting the floor and she sat forward in the bath so he could slide in behind her. She waited until he was settled before she spoke again. "I'm afraid of what I'm turning into if I don't feel anything about killing people anymore."

"Meagan, it's not in your nature to panic. You're exhausted and were shot by a taser tonight; you've just locked it all away until you are capable of dealing with what happened. Right now you just need to sleep so you can process it all." She nodded and nestled into his embrace. In minutes her breathing was deep and even and she was asleep. He laughed ruefully; this was not how he was expecting this evening to turn out if he was honest. He was pretty damn sure she was going to be all over him. She usually was. He used his toes to pull the plug in the bathtub and then adjusted her weight so he could carry her out of the tub. He awkwardly dried them both as best he could without having to set her down and then carried her to their bed. He was glad Ella had thought to turn down the sheets and he put her down and drew the fluffy duvet up over Meagan's sleeping form. He finished drying himself properly and slipped into bed beside her.

She was immediately drawn to his heat and draped herself over him. He grinned when he felt her tracing her nails over his abs. Meagan loved cut abs. Lester had become almost obsessive about making sure his were perfect because they were one of her biggest turn ons. For him? He loved the little secret rebellions she had. The small tattoo on her pelvis just to the right of where her hairline would be if she wasn't always waxed was his favorite. It was just a tiny little thing that only he, Ranger (because he'd been a part of that drunken fiasco that had resulted in the three of them getting inked), the tattoo artist and the small Korean woman who did her bikini wax knew about.

He smiled thinking about the tattoo. The stud in her naval was also quite hot and he was glad she had it redone. As he was contemplating these things, her hand slipped well below the blankets and his smile ratcheted up a few notches. He grabbed her wrist to stop her inquisitive hand from exploring much further and rolled her onto her back. She smiled lazily up at him with a hand on the thigh opposite him; he leaned down and placed a soft probing kiss on her lips. "I felt that," she purred when he released her lips. Without saying a word he kissed, nipped, licked and teased his way down her body on a quest to inspect the tattoo that never failed to make him feel just a little bit smug. He finally reached his destination and nipped gently at the ink and he felt the vibration of the silent laugh at his preoccupation. The laugh turned into a shiver of desire as he placed a hot open-mouthed kiss so close to the promise land.

'I'm becoming obsessed with this thing." he said as he kissed it again. Just two little cursive letters she'd put there for his birthday the year after they had moved in together. L.S.

"You should get more ink," he said as he kissed his way across her pelvis, "Here," he kissed the side opposite the tattoo.

"What should I get?" She breathed.

"Mrs. Santos." He said and then went to work with his incredibly talented tongue that made her forget about forming a coherent response.

RSRSRSRSRSRS

Lester woke up at noon and grinned down at his wife. She was still sprawled over top of him and looked like she wasn't going to move anytime soon. He gently extracted himself from her and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When he came out fifteen minutes later and crossed to the closet to get dressed she was still in the exact position she had been in when he'd left. Lips twitching he tucked her back under the blankets and went to their living room to watch the news to see if they had successfully kept the kidnapping away from the media. The official story was that a van lost control and crashed into the side of the coffee house. Things would get infinitely dicier if it got out that right now Ranger and the Pixie were vulnerable.

His phone rang in his pocket and he frowned. Offline meant no communications except for emergencies. He checked the readout and saw TPD. "Yo."

"It's Eddie."

"S'up?"

"We've got another body. If she's up to it, her boss, wants her to make an appearance at the scene. Can you come out?"

"She's not even awake, man. I'll see what I can do but she was up for 22 hours and they weren't exactly what you'd call restful."

"I know. Just do what you can." Lester disconnected and went into the bedroom and sat on the bed. Meagan didn't get a lot of deep restful sleep like this and he really hated waking her up especially after what she had just been through. He stroked her gorgeous hair off her face and placed a soft kiss on her slightly parted lips. She didn't even twitch and he shook his head. "So much for Sleeping Beauty," he said softly and gently shook her shoulder, "Come on, Gorgeous, wake up. We've got another body." Still nothing so he shook her harder and her head simply lolled to the other side, "Aww fuck." He shook her even harder and still got no response, "Fuck, Baby, I'm an idiot," he punched speed dial two on his phone.

If it had been any other pair than Meagan and Ranger, they would have known last night there was something wrong. Ric's eyes were dark enough that when he was pissed they were almost black and Meagan's were actually black. So unless you were staring them in the eyes, under a bright light you wouldn't see it. The lack effect? Not feeling anxious about anything including a genuine phobia, falling asleep in the tub. The signs were all there. "I'm sorry Meagan. You tried to tell me something was wrong. I'm an idiot."

"Yo." Bobby sounded half asleep as he finally answered his phone.

"B get up here! She's non-responsive. I'm pretty sure they were drugged."

"Shit." Bobby disconnected and within two minutes Ranger and Bobby were in the room.

"Tell me exactly what happened after you got up here last night." Bobby demanded as he started checking Meagan's vitals.

"She was in her head. I cleaned up her feet and she told me that she was worried about the fact that she didn't feel anything. She was afraid of what it meant that she no longer felt remorse when she killed. I told her that she was exhausted and she was compartmentalizing until she was ready to deal with it. We had a bath and she dozed off in the tub. I took her to bed, she woke up and…"

"I don't need specific details unless there was something unusual about her behavior?"

"Maybe?" He frowned, "She was just as responsive as she usually is, just not as active; but she had a long day yesterday and I figured she was just genuinely exhausted." He looked at Ranger, "What about when she woke up in the cell?"

"She had a headache and fell asleep in the car on the way to Boston."

"What about in the chopper back here?"

"She slept all the way back, too."

"Anything else. Anything at all?" Bobby asked. Ranger quickly relayed what he could remember.

"She was cold." Ranger said, "But she's always cold."

"Is she naked under this blanket, Les?"

"Yep."

"Well, it will make things easier if she doesn't kill us for looking" he reasoned with himself and then looked at Ranger, "Listen, Meagan has naturally low blood pressure and this wouldn't be the first time we haven't been able to wake her up after she run herself into the ground. That being said, it sounds like a benzodiazepine so we're looking for needle marks. It can be injected in the muscle or vein." They flipped the sheet covering her hips until it just barely covered her business.

Within seconds Lester found it (which was not surprising given how good his eyesight was and that he knew her body better than anyone else) There was a needle mark on the inside of her left elbow. Bobby pulled a camera out of his bag and, careful only to have the elbow in the frame, he took a picture of the needle mark. He put the camera back in his bag. He started an IV, took a blood sample and then hooked her up to some saline.

"She's dehydrated but she's stable. I'm going to continue monitoring her but I don't see any point in moving her until we know if we have to." He snapped off his glove and pulled another pair out of his bag, "Ric, shirt off please."

"I'm fine Bobby."

"Not a question, Ranger. You were electrocuted, probably drugged and hung from a ceiling for who knows how long. I'm not willing to just take your word for it. So take off your shirt."

While Bobby was examining Ranger, Lester was looking over Meagan and he discovered a small bruise on her upper right thigh. "I think they dosed her twice. I think I've found another injection site," he said. "There's bruising around it."

"She probably woke up. Meagan is really easy to under-medicate," Bobby said as he looked at Ranger. "I want Julio to look at your shoulders when he gets here." He handed Ranger back his shirt.

"They're fine. Just stiff." Ranger replied. He pulled his shirt back on.

"Again, it wasn't really a request, Boss."

RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

When Ranger woke me up to tell me he was going to a crime scene, with Tank, I figured that if he was going to work I might as well drag my ass out of bed to work too, which is how I found myself sitting in Ranger's office staring at surveillance footage from the house in Boston. I was on my third go through of the footage when there was a knock on the door and it opened before I could tell whoever it was to come in. I looked up and decided that Rosa Manoso really knew what she was doing when she combined her genes with her husband's, because Lester's brother was just as drop dead gorgeous as Ranger and Lester.

Besides the word 'delicious', the best way to describe Julio Santos would be to say he was a good mix of Lester and Ranger, a little taller than Ranger but shorter than Les and lighter skinned than both of them; but like both of his relatives, it was a combination of a killer smile and incredible eyes that sucked you in. Lester's eyes were a startling almost hypnotic green, Ranger's a piercing deep dark chocolate that seemed to see right into you soul, Julio's were like two pools of molten bronze constrained by a dark brown ring and they put you instantly at ease. Although I suspect that he was like Ranger and Lester and you probably didn't want on his bad side.

"Well if it isn't Mrs. Ranger," he said. "I'm Julio Santos." He held out his hand and I shook it, "We haven't really had a chance to meet yet."

"You were at the hospital for Meagan and you were at the reception but you disappeared pretty quickly so we didn't actually get a chance to talk."

"There was press there and my charming ex-wife showed up and was going to cause a scene. Figured it would be easier if I just got her out of there."

"How did she get past the security?" I asked.

"She didn't but it wouldn't have stopped her from doing her damnedest to ruin the night. She doesn't like me much and knows that Lester and Meagan are my Achilles heel. She'd have no qualms about hurting them to hurt me but it's no fun for her if I'm not there watching her be a complete bitch."

"What did you do to her?"

"We're prone to be workaholics in our family and I'm a surgeon." He shrugged, "The idea of being married to a doctor was way more appealing than the reality of being married to a trauma surgeon. I was never home and she felt neglected. I forgot my cell phone at the hospital one day and they called the house while I was on my way home. She set up a little surprise for me to get my attention and I didn't react the way she wanted."

"What was the surprise?"

"She was participating in a video chat on a porn site. She wanted to get caught and for me to be jealous."

"Wow. I'm almost afraid to ask…"

"I had just spent 8 hours trying to put an 8-year-old back together who had been hit by his school bus and it was still touch and go. I was exhausted, I needed a drink and I wanted to sleep. I wasn't in the mood for games. So instead of getting upset like I knew she wanted, I let her have the truth. I'm open-minded about sex. Those sex chat sites are basically just phone sex with visual aids. As long as she was safe about it, I wasn't really concerned what type of porn she used to help get herself off."

"And she took exhausted and open-mindedness for not caring."

"Oh yeah. She left me that night," he said, "You know how your divorce is part of New Jersey lore? Mine was the Miami version." I shuddered. My divorce had been nasty and, while I was happy to be rid of the cheating bastard, I definitely got the fuzzy end of that lollipop.

"Why did you start working for Rangeman?"

"I had no intention of ever doing that but then Meagan died just after they opened the business. Lester was an absolute mess, Ric and Hector weren't much better and…I… I was shattered. I needed to be around people who knew her and I needed to try to keep my little brother together."

"Are you going to leave now that she's not dead?"

"Nope. They'd fall apart without me." He grinned and winked at me, "Actually, I find that I have an aptitude for running the different branches and I still have hospital privileges in New York. My mind is like active. I need to keep it busy or I get myself into trouble."

"You are way chattier than Ranger and Lester," I teased.

"You're family. Besides, to get Lester to open up just apply tequila and hide Meagan. He gets very chatty if she's not there to distract him. Although Lester, Meagan, Ranger and tequila together usually add up to extremely questionable choices and one hell of a party."

I picked up my pen and wrote _Lester + worm = Dirt on Ranger._ Julio threw back his head and laughed, "So what are you working on, Mrs. Ranger?"

"Trying to figure this out; something is just really weird about it." The video of their capture and captivity was playing on the screen, "It doesn't fit anything else we think he's done so far. It's too messy. I'm really hoping you are going to tell me that there is a smoking gun at the house."

"Nope. Not a damn thing. The place was completely scrubbed. There was evidence that the family had been there recently; but there were literally no fingerprints in the basement, no DNA, nothing to say that Meagan and Ric were in the basement but their word."

"And the stuff Hec pulled off of the phone?"

"Yeah, the way he did that could get thrown out of court by a shrewd lawyer. It's their word against his and since they were drugged…"

"We need more," I said and he nodded. There was a knock on the door and Julio leaned back and opened it, Jimmy was there.

"Jimmy! How are you liking Jersey?" He asked.

"Jimmy is already in love with the Boss Lady," I teased and he blushed. Julio laughed.

"Ahhh, Jimmy, you aren't the first and won't be the last to be ensnared by her. She collects men." He turned that molten gaze on me and chuckled, "You do, too, I bet. How many of the men in this building are in love with you, Mrs. Ranger?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said and innocently batted my eyes at him. He didn't buy it and I smiled, "What can I do for you, Jimmy?"

"The labs are back on Tink and Ranger," he said.

Julio flipped open the folder, "Jesus," he muttered, "I'm surprised she's been awake at all. We're lucky she's not in a coma. They gave her the same dose of Ativan as they gave Ranger. May I use the computer?" He started typing and accessed a program I didn't know we had, pulled up Meagan's chart and read it through. He got a text and pulled out his phone, "She's awake and bitchy. I think at the moment we'll leave her with Les and Bobby. They'll chill her out."

"Actually, Joe's in there. He's baby sitting because Lester went to the crime scene with Ranger."

"Oh, they came back about ten minutes ago. They are all up there," Jimmy said. Raised voices were coming from the control room. Julio tilted his chair back again and his whole demeanor changed.

"Well, hello. Who do we have here?" He righted his chair with a thump and stood up to go investigate.

RSRSRSRSRRSRSRSRS

It was the pressing need to pee that woke her up. She groaned and flatly refused to open her eyes. She still had the bitch of a headache and she felt like she could use a few more hours of sleep. She went to sit up and felt a tug in her hand and she realized she was hooked up to an IV, "Dammit, Bobby," she muttered and unclipped the tubing. She had to pee and then she really needed to brush her teeth; they were so fuzzy it felt like she had a stuffed toy factory in her mouth. She spun her legs around and started to stand and then promptly sat down again.

"Take it easy, Princess. You were drugged. You're going to be a little disoriented," Joe said and she suddenly remembered what she had gone to sleep in. She was in no way ashamed of her body, or at all shy, but she still didn't want to just walk around naked in front of man that wasn't her husband. She relaxed a bit as it finally registered that she was wearing silk pajamas and was actually dressed.

"Where's Les?" Joe opened his mouth to speak and she held out her hand and peeled opened an eye, it was just him in the room, "Wait. Just let me pee. Whatever you have to say can wait a few minutes."

She stood up and stumbled to the bathroom, wincing slightly because her feet were still tender. She quickly took care of urgent business, brushed her teeth and then gave herself an appraising look. "Ohh, aren't I a treat?" She looked longingly at the shower. Her hair was spectacular and she'd slept in her makeup having not washed it off in the tub. She opened a drawer and began the ritual of washing her face- cleanser, toner, serum, lotion, eye cream, and skipped the sun block because she seriously doubted that Bobby would let her out of the apartment today anyway. She brushed out the rat's nest her hair had become after sleeping on it wet then threw it into a loose braid. She gave herself another look in the mirror, grinned at her pajamas, which were pale pink silk with black piping and the top belted closed instead of buttoned. They were new and she hadn't bought them. Lester wouldn't choose this although he'd love it. No, these were the work of Ella.

"She's trying to get me laid again," she chuckled. She knew that if she looked in her dresser she'd find all kinds of new lingerie, all of it would be decadent and very expensive. Ella's subtle way of telling her she needed to go on vacation. They hadn't been to their house for almost a year. A month there would be wonderful. Quiet. Well, until she pulled out Ella's latest purchases. She smirked. She needed to speak to Hector first. Lester's birthday was coming up. If she could find a way to get him to go out of town for a couple of weeks, she could get him his present and get the house ready. She examined herself again, she was very tired and she looked it. A month at their little hideaway was just what the doctor ordered.

She walked out of the bathroom and the smile at her private plotting dropped. She'd been invaded. Now, not only was Joe in the room (she still didn't know why), but so was Lester (he, of course, was always welcome), Bobby (not a shock, given the IV), Ranger and Hector (probably here for the same reason as Morelli) and they were all strewn about her room. Ranger had his arms folded across his chest and he was leaning, propped against the window sill, with a manilla folder under one arm. Lester was on the far left of the giant bed leaning against the headboard, ankles crossed, Bobby was hanging another bag of whatever from the IV stand to the right of the bed. Joe was still sitting in his chair at the foot of the bed, feet propped up and ankles crossed.

They all looked at her when she walked in. Lester, Bobby and Joe did an involuntary full body scan of her. Yep the pajamas were well appreciated. She'd have to tell Ella. Hector smirked since he'd lived with her long enough to know Ella's gentle manipulations when he saw them. Ranger looked like he was thinking about smiling. She stood there letting them take in the look so they could get it out of their systems.

"S'up?" She asked and the three gawking idiots snapped out of their trances.

Bobby motioned for her to get back into bed. She did as ordered and slid in close to her husband as Bobby went about reattaching her to the IV. "So you were dosed with something, labs should be back soon," Bobby said as he sat on the edge of the bed and started checking her vitals again.

"Feels like a benny of some kind. At least that's what the headache feels like."

"It's what Julio and I think. How much of the initial kidnapping do you remember?"

"Not much after Ranger tossed me and the two kids went down; then it's one big blur until we woke up in the cell."

"I'm really leaning towards Ativan for this. Memory loss, headache, fatigue, chills, explains the lack of anxiety."

"Sure does. Idiot actually made me more efficient because he took away the anxiety I would have been feeling being in an enclosed space." She looked at Ranger, "What's in the folder?"

"New victim," he said, "Kimberly Long. She's a federal prosecutor with an impressive record."

"Body was found in the building laundry room by the janitor this morning. Apartment is the worst we've seen yet. The beating was the most savage and she wasn't just raped; she was mutilated ante mortem," Lester said.

"He's escalating. He was pissed we got away last night."

"So I'm thinking he has a list." Lester said, "This is the first time he's killed two victims in less than a week and both of them were impulsive; but they can't just victims of opportunity. His victimology isn't just about body type and hair color, it's about personality and employment as well; not to mention all of them live in walk-up apartments with onsite basement laundry rooms. We have 12 victims across 2 states and it's always the same story - not a coincidence."

"You're probably right," she said. Bobby was fiddling with something in a box beside her while she flipped through the file. He held out a hand for her arm so she lifted up her right arm and he grasped her wrist, "Do we have time of YEOUCH! Dammit, Bobby, what the fuck was that?"

"Your new tracker, Gorgeous."

"God, warn a girl!" She shook her head as he pressed some gauze over the injection site. Hector opened his laptop and placed it on Meagan's dresser then pressed a few keys.

"_You_'_re up and running,_" Hector said in Spanish.

"As I was saying," she glared at Bobby, "Do we have a time of death?"

"Between 3 and 4 this morning," Lester answered.

"There's something funky about all of this. Where's Steph?"

"Downstairs obsessively watching the security footage of our escape because she has the same funky feeling as you and Morelli do," Ranger replied.

"How much is on camera?"

"All of it," Ranger said.

"What do you mean all of it?"

"From minute we entered The Coffee shop until we left the house. There is a couple hour gap where they were transporting us but that's it. The rest is on video."

"Have you watched it?"

"Not yet."

"I feel like we should get popcorn," Bobby said.

"For sure popcorn," Lester agreed. "I'll call Ella."

"Actually, I'm starving," Meagan said as she nudged Lester. "Request fully loaded nachos too, please."

_AN: I'm no longer at deaths door thanks to antibiotics. Hopefully I get you a couple of chapters for next week. I love your reviews so let me know what you think. All my medical knowledge comes from the internet and a little poetic licence so if it's horribly wrong, roll __with__ it... or even better PM me to let me know how I can make it better and I'll fix it. _


	7. Chapter 7

_**AN: I am sorry for being gone for so long! Between **__**getting sick, birthdays, Canadian Thanksgiving, and the Apple Update from hell (I am still trying to sort out all my various devices. I THINK I have everything finally working) I just haven't been able to post. I will try to update more, but who knows what's going to happen with my computer this week? Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. And thanks to my Beta Di for reading through the absolutely massive chunk of text I sent her, most of which was written on various cough medications. Thank her for making everything make sense!**_

The commotion, as it turns out, was Ram disarming Jeanne Ellen Burrows in the control room and she was less than happy about it. She was dressed in head-to-toe black leather, her hair was dyed black and she looked fierce… in every sense of the word. "Well I'm assuming your name isn't Julie Newmar, though it would make my day if it was."

I snorted. "I like you," I whispered to Julio.

"Feelings mutual, Babe." I spluttered with laughter. His Ranger was dead on. He winked and turned back to burrows.

"I need to speak to Ranger and they won't let me," she said a touch petulantly. "It's important and about the case we're working on."

"Great." Julio said brightly, he was very chipper. Lester was fun, at times hilariously inappropriate, and usually easy going when he wasn't on the job; but I wouldn't say he was ever chipper. And Ranger? Well I don't think the term 'chipper' and 'Ranger' even belonged on the same planet. So it was a little weird for both Jeanne and I to see someone who looked so much like the both of them be just that. And I got the distinct impression he was doing it on purpose to weird us out, "I'll take you to him but you can't be armed. There was an incident last night and we're on lockdown."

"That's all anyone had to say." She said after Ram let her go.

"Yo, Tank! We're going upstairs. Floor's yours."

"You been here for fifteen minutes, flirted with Bomber and you're shirking your responsibilities already?" Tank called from his office.

"Wouldn't want you to get bored Big Guy. Besides I want to get a look at my girl myself before I really dive into seeing how badly you guys fucked things up around here," he called back and winked at me.

"For that New York gets the next batch or recruits," Tank muttered and Julio chuckled.

"Shall we, ladies." He opened the door, "Babe, Ms. Newmar, after you."

Jeanne Ellen's glare could have melted stone and he acted completely oblivious. "Ranger might kill you for calling me 'Babe'. Just a word of caution."

"He's a lot of fun to bait, but he'd never hurt me; and our grandmother would have his hide if he killed me." And that's when I realized what it was about Julio that was dangerous. He liked fucking with people for sport. Part of me wanted to see him and Tink in action together but I was afraid of what the collateral damage would be like.

We took the stairs to the next floor and Julio let us into the apartment. I was about to question how he had a fob to open the apartment and then I remembered that Bobby's fob let him into any room in Rangeman except for Hector's lair in case of a medical emergency so it stood to reason Julio's would do the same. "Jesus, this place is huge," he muttered.

"It's got the same footprint as seven; it's just taller and lighter so it looks bigger." The colors Ella chose for this place were just as soothing as the ones on seven, but she chose cool colors making the open concept place feel light and airy. The carpet was white and luxurious, the furniture was all oversized and sumptuous. Their large sectional was the darkest piece of furniture in the room, a dove grey, and the most comfortable piece of furniture in the world. It sat 12 regular-sized people or 6 Rangemen and Meagan and felt like you were squishing down into a mountain of pillows. I have never successfully watched a full movie while sitting on it. I always pass out within minutes. The other seating options were a bunch of giant throw pillows she kept in a long trunk under the window. It wasn't unusual to find half of Rangeman watching any major sporting event sprawled out all around her living room on the massive pillows. The sofa often held me, Ranger, Tank, Lester, Bobby and Meagan. Though, on the rare occasions Ella and Luis joined us, Bobby and Lester would commandeer two pillows.

We walked through the courageously white (given the number of men that tracked through) apartment to the bedroom where we found Meagan in the middle of the bed looking over crime scene photos with Bobby who was seated to her right. His legs were stretched out on the bed and his back rested against the wing-backed headboard. To her left Lester was seated in an almost identical pose to Bobby, though he had a laptop opened on his knees and was going through several heavily redacted documents on his computer while making notes in a notebook on the night stand. Joe was in a white club chair with his feet propped up on the bed; he too had crime scene notes on his lap. Ranger was leaning against the window ledge using his phone. The room was quiet except for the rustle of pictures.

"This is a familiar sight with a new face," Julio said by way of greeting.

The atmosphere in the room shifted immediately. Lester tossed his laptop onto the bed and jumped up to hug his older brother hello, Ranger crossed the room to do the same, and Joe got to his feet to introduce himself. Hector hadn't moved, but he looked up from his computer, smirked his greeting at Julio and then went back to whatever he was doing. "Mind if I borrow your seat, Hermanito?" Julio asked as he was dropping onto the bed beside Meagan. He folded Meagan into one of those hugs that you just know is good. The kind that envelop the whole body and are completely warm and soothing. He held her just a second longer than was necessary and then pulled away, "How are you, Amada?"

"Tired, could sleep more, but otherwise fine. Feels like a Benny. Bobby thinks Ativan."

"Bobby's the man." Julio replied, "He's right. They gave you as much as they gave Ric. You're going to probably have some interesting side effects but you'll be fine."

"Great. Rebound insomnia here I come."

"Would I let you suffer, Amada? Honestly," he scoffed and then hugged her again. He released her and got off the bed and leaned against the dresser where Hector was still working. He deliberately jostled the computer earning him a snort of either amusement or irritation from Hector. It was hard to say which. "What are we working on?"

"Latest victim. We're going to watch the video of our escape in a minute." Ranger then acknowledged Jeanne for the first time and all but barked at her when they made eye contact, "I ordered you to report in last night. You better have a damned good reason for showing up more than 12 hours late."

Jeanne looked momentarily nonplussed and then covered it with a sneer. "You first. I came here to report in, was disarmed and now I see Tink in bed surrounded by a guard that the Secret Service would think twice about pissing off. What the fuck is going on?"

"Last night Ranger and Tink were abducted and woke up in Boston. They escaped and came back here," Bobby said.

"What?!" she gasped incredulously, "How the hell did they manage that?"

"Well, Carlos and I are fairly resourceful when we need to be and we were pissed about being kidnapped. Also, not to mention, if a Maximum security Swiss Prison couldn't keep me locked up for more than an hour, I couldn't let an amateur just keep me locked in his basement; it would be terrible for my reputation." Joe snickered at the foot of the bed and we all looked at him in question.

"What? She told me about the Swiss Prison on a stakeout. It was pretty funny."

"I meant, how did they capture you?"

"You'll see." Meagan said simply, "Why are you late? I might be hooked up to an IV but I can still easily kick your ass and I'm somewhat lacking in the patience department today. I'm not interested in you dicking us around because Ranger is in a bit of a mood and you don't like him giving you orders."

"I've had an interesting 24 hours," Jeanne said.

—

24 hours earlier.

Following Terri was about as exciting as watching paint dry, Jeanne decided as she pulled into the lot outside of the Tastey Pastry. Terri's interest in the bakery lay in the coffee there-in. It seemed like it was the day for running errands and although it was somewhat surprising, even Mafia Barbie had to do mundane things like pick up her dry cleaning. She had yet to stop anywhere for more than five minutes time before jogging back to her BMW and moving on to the next stop on her to-do list. It was now finally time to approach her as she was leaning on the side of her car sipping her coffee and checking emails on her phone.

Jeanne got out of the black Jag XJS she was driving and sidled up to the shorter blonde. "We need to talk."

"Figured. You've been following me all day."

"Think I would be driving the Jag if I wanted to be inconspicuous? I'm under orders to follow you. Do you have a minute?"

"Does it have anything to do with why the cheating bastard, Morelli has dropped off of the face of the planet?"

"It does." Jeanne paused, "The feds and Rangeman are working together to track a Human Trafficker who sidelines as a Serial Killer. Morelli was working undercover as the boyfriend of the suspect's daughter. He's been there for months trying to find anything concrete, the suspect is definitely into something shady and Morelli felt like he was onto something when you blew his cover for him and if our Suspect does turn out to be the killer, you are his type and most certainly on his radar now." Terri took the potential threat to her life in stride, not really a stranger to threats given the Family business.

"Since when do you work for the Feds?" she wanted to know.

"I became more open minded about working for the Feds when I found out that Morelli's new partner was the Pixie."

Terri's reaction to this information was amusing to watch; the normally cool blonde took a deep breath and very calmly cursed for a solid minute then heaved her coffee cup into the side of the Tasty Pastry. "That would have been more satisfying if paper shattered." She observed before she collected herself again.

"You have a history?" Burrows asked.

"Not personally. I have never met her, no this is a Family thing." She groused, "Let's just say we owe her a few favors and leave it there. Out of curiosity does Ranger agree with her assessment of the situation?"

"Ranger asked me to come work for him as a favor until this case is over. At first I thought he wanted me to be a decoy for Tink but he just wanted inconspicuous female muscle on you. He trained me because of her and if they're both concerned, so am I."

"Just how fucked am I exactly?"

"You're not. That's why I'm on you. For today at least, I plan to keep my distance, try to pick up any tails you might have. To that end I need to know if you have any additional protection I should know about so I don't waste my time tracking plates I don't need to."

"No tail. I carry a panic button that sends an alert to Uncle Vito's men if I'm in trouble. Response time is about five minutes."

"Good. If something happens, hit the button; I could use the back up. You should continue to go about your business as usual. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I would be watching your back."

"Fine. Am I keeping this information to myself?"

"Yes, for now. We're almost positive we know who this is. The FBI and Rangeman are on it. They'll have answers soon. In the meantime, I'm to make sure you keep to your normal routine and keep you safe. I'll be maintaining a low profile and won't comment on anything I hear during your meetings. Just don't try to duck me and we'll be fine."

"And how much is your silence going to cost me?"

"Nothing. Ranger is paying me well above my usual rate so that I keep my mouth shut."

Terri regarded Jeanne carefully, looking for deception and finding none. "How do you feel about working for him now that he's married to Plum?"

"Ranger and I were over a long time ago, Terri; and the only thing we ever had going for us was phenomenal sex. I could never be what he was looking for and he has all of the emotional availability of a toaster oven. We're colleagues and competitors and nothing more."

"So not even a little jealous of Plum?"

"No reason to be."

"Good, I don't want your focus divided because this is some weird attempt to get back into his bed. Plum is finally out of my way and I have no desire for her to go running back to Morelli again."

Burrows rolled her eyes. The woman she was protecting was pathetic. Honestly pathetic. How many times did she have to be dumped by the guy? Was his dick candy flavored and gold plated? Did he have a tongue like lizard? Unlimited staying power? What was the appeal? Yes, he was good looking and had a nice ass but that was hardly enough to earn this kind of obsession. As far as she could tell Morelli had never treated Terri right and yet she was always coming back for more.

"I'm perfectly aware of how pathetic that sounded," Terri said. "I'll thank you for keeping your opinions to yourself." Jeanne Ellen shrugged and then walked back to her car. She waited for Terri to pull out of the lot and followed at a distance. The woman was busy that was for sure. After a while, Burrows started to suspect that the many errands were cover for other business. She never spent more than ten minutes at each location and with the exception of when she spent 20 minutes inside a lingerie boutique and another 30 in the grocery store, she never brought anything out of the stores she went into. Either she was the world's worst shopper or she was conducting business. It didn't really matter and Jeanne Ellen didn't really care. It wasn't her job to care.

Tomorrow she'd have Terri wear a wire so she could hear what went on inside the buildings but she highly doubted that anything would happen in broad daylight. The women had all been attacked in their homes, at night. When Terri was finished her running around for the day, they were going to have to discuss sleeping arrangements.

Jeanne Ellen was sitting on a park bench under a burnt out street light watching the parking lot of the Bingo Hall that was currently occupied by both Vito and Terri. With all of her uncle's protection inside, Terri would be safe as long as she stayed in the building and Burrows was using the opportunity to recharge. Terri's car was quite a distance away but she'd planted a tracker on it and she could have a better vantage point of the lot from where she was sitting.

At 2202 the door to the Bingo Hall opened and Gillman finally went towards her car. Burrows took the opportunity to send her a quick text telling her that they were tempting fate by being out so late. Terri leaned up against her car and responded that she agreed. She had just unlocked her car when a small black Toyota hatchback with no plates pulled into the lot and screeched to a stop beside the BMW. Two figures, dressed in all black complete with ski masks, jumped out of the Toyota. One put Terri in a headlock while the other injected her with something. They opened the back door to the BMW and tossed Terri inside. Once Terri was out of the way and Jeanne had a clear shot she took it hitting one of the assailants in the right bicep. Both of the kidnappers reacted to the shot by scrambling back into the Toyota, as she took more shots at them. She didn't score another hit on the kidnappers but she did manage to shoot out one of the cars side mirrors. She kept shooting until her clip was empty and then half ran, half slid down the steep embankment to the lot.

As Burrows sprinted towards Gillman's car, she heard the crunching sound of glass breaking beneath her boot. She'd stepped on the syringe. She cursed herself for potentially destroying the evidence as she wrenched to car door open to see if Terri was still alive. She was, very much so, her pupils dilated with terror as she lay paralyzed in the back of her car.

"It's alright," she assured her. "The drug wears off in about ten minutes. They took off. I'm going to take you back to…" She didn't get to say much else as she was zapped with a stun gun and hauled into the back of a van.

When she became aware again she was lying on a padded bench in Vito Grizolli's kitchen and her head was killing her. She sat up and immediately heard the distinctive click of rounds being chambered. She opened her eyes and saw no less than four guns pointed at her.

"You have some explaining to do," Vito said as he motioned for the weapons to be lowered. "If I don't like the explanation, you'll disappear."

She spent the next six hours in the kitchen going over everything she was privy to, answering the same questions repeatedly until Vito was satisfied.

"And you're saying Ranger hired you?" he asked for the fifteenth time.

"Yes, he and the Pixie have…"

"The Pixie? You didn't mention this before." A slow smile crept onto his face.

"I told you Ranger and his partner. That would be Meagan Santos AKA Tink or the Pixie."

"She goes by many more names than that," he chuckled. "I need to make some phone calls to verify your story. You will eat, you will sleep and then I will have more questions. Terri, take her to a room." He waved them both away dismissively and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Terri was quiet as she led Jeanne through the long corridors of the house. "Are you all right?" Burrows asked.

"Yeah. Fine. I just need to sleep." Terri rubbed the back of her neck and rolled her shoulders to releave some tension, "You're lucky that drug wore off fast or you'd be dead. The gunshots brought my uncle and his cronies running."

"You have to go into hiding."

"Vito is working on it, but I'm not interested. I want to bring this bastard down," she snapped. "I'll go into hiding at Rangeman where I can actually be useful and you are going to talk Vito into agreeing with that arrangement." She ushered Burrows into a neat, if spartan, bedroom and locked her inside. As far as jail cells went, it wasn't complete shit. She'd certainly been in worse.

It was almost noon the next day when they finally came to retrieve her from the room. She was asked all the same questions yet again and finally Vito seemed satisfied.

"I don't like that the Pixie is working for the FBI; I'm worried this is a way to get information out of Terri regarding the family business." he said after a particularly prolonged silence.

"It's not. Read the papers. These murders are real."

"No doubt they are. It makes a convenient cover for scaring my princess into coming forward."

She was about to raise further protest when he held up his hand for silence, "I have spoken to my cousin in Italy. He says to trust the Pixie, he says that while she works for the government, she doesn't necessarily subscribe the their beliefs. So, for now, I will trust her, but I need to speak to her in person. You will set up a meeting between her and Ranger, and myself. If I find out that you have been lying to me and that you can't be trusted or that you were behind what happened to my little Angel, then you are going to find your life coming to an abrupt and undignified end."

"I understand." She took a deep breath, "What happened to the BMW? I shot one of the kidnappers and there might be spatter. We need the DNA that…"

"The car," He cut her off, "is being detailed as we speak. I can't allow that car to be taken as evidence that could be used against us. I'm sorry, Miss Burrows, but that's the way it has to be. Besides the blood of one of his henchmen isn't going to help you much. Now go. One of my men is going to drop you off at your car. You'll find it untouched."

She wasn't stupid. The first thing she did when she got to the car was sweep it for bugs and trackers. She found one she was sure belonged to Rangeman but disabled it anyway. There was a bug under the driver's seat and she promptly switched it off and put it into an evidence bag. Next she grabbed a camera, some evidence tags and some more bags from the trunk of her car. She was working for Rangeman and they were authorized to gather evidence. Slipping on a pair of gloves, she went down to the lot and bagged the glass and plastic from the mirror she shot out, photographed and bagged the remains of the syringe and the dirt around it in case they could test it for whatever drug that had been used on Terri. Then, finally, as luck and a bright sunny day would have it, she saw a few spots of blood on the ground. She photographed them then bagged the dirt as well. If she had any more luck, the bullet would have been a through and through and maybe, just maybe, she would find it. If she did, they could probably pull DNA from it. It took her an hour but she found the slug and bagged it, too, then drove straight to Rangeman.

RSRSRSRSRS

When she finished recounting the events of the night, Burrows sat on the edge of the dresser next to Julio. "Did you hit your head?" he asked her gently. She shook her head.

"I'm fine. Hungry and I have a headache but I'm fine."

"Bobby?" Julio asked and Bobby tossed him a penlight which he promptly shone into Jeanne Ellen's eyes. She glared at him. "Got anything interesting in that bag, Bobby?"

"If by interesting you mean anything stronger than Ibuprofen? The answer is no. The good stuff is in the Infirmary," Bobby replied.

"We'll hook you up later," Julio said with a wink. "Right now what you need is a warm bed and I know the perfect headache remedy. It's all natural and you'll feel like a million bucks afterwards. I promise." His voice was warm and a slight flush to her cheeks was the only reaction she had to his subtly seductive voice.

Hector rolled his eyes dramatically and 'accidentally' elbowed Julio in the ribs rather hard. Obviously Julio and his brother shared ideas on the best way to cure a woman's headache as Lester's smirk was almost identical to the one Julio was sporting.

"Can it, primo," Ranger said almost indulgently.

"What? I was talking peppermint tea and lavender oil." Julio attempted to look innocent. He really tried hard but he failed absolutely miserably.

"Of course you were, Julio. Of course you were." Meagan muttered under her breath, "Can we watch the video yet Hec?"

He replied in Spanish and everyone made to adjourn to the living room. Meagan stood up and was immediately scooped up by Lester earning him a cocked eyebrow from his brother. "Glass in her feet."

"I'm fine. They don't even hurt much anymore, I'm capable of walking."

"Yeah but it's a good excuse to make them all jealous because I'm holding you. I mean these pajamas are phenomenal and I think Ella deserves a raise for finding them for you."

"I'll accept that reasoning" she grinned at him as he carried her out to the living room and sat in the corner of the massive sectional, He kicked his feet out and put them on the coffee table and she nestled under his arm like she did for almost every movie night I'd ever been to in this place. Bobby arranged the IV stand behind her and checked to make sure everything was working properly. When he was done, he tossed a throw over Meagan and she promptly drew her knees to her chest. Bobby vaulted over the back of the sofa and she stretched out draping her legs over Bobby's lap. He arranged the blanket around her legs and then rested his own feet on the coffee table. This too was part of the normal seating arrangements for movie night. It wasn't even unheard of for Bobby to absently massage Meagan's calves while watching the movie.

It wasn't my place to comment though I was dying of curiosity. I knew enough about Lester to know that he didn't share but he was far more understanding than Ranger. If the guys even looked at me funny, he got jealous. She cuddled Bobby if Lester wasn't available and Lester was completely cool with it. That was what you called trust.

Jeanne Ellen however had no compunction about commenting though (and by commenting I mean she raised an eyebrow at them) to which the three of them replied, "Just friends. Lester doesn't share." That earned a laugh from the rest of us.

"But you'd be open to it wouldn't you, Tink?" Burrows teased.

She considered Bobby for about ten seconds and then grinned, "Of course, I would be. Look at him? I'm not selfish though. I have Lester and it would be simply glutinous of me to keep Bobby too."

"Who says I'd have you?" Bobby teased, "You're rather irritating."

"You love me and you know it." She nudged him with her foot.

"Sometimes I wonder…" It could have degenerated from there, but Ranger folded his arms across his chest, The movement was smooth and very subtle, but to anyone who knew him it was a sign of annoyance and everyone shut up. Though Meagan did stick her tongue out at him in defiance and I swear he almost rolled his eyes at her.

Hector started speaking with Julio translating, "You were unconscious for several hours, since I doubt you want to watch hours of nothing, I edited most of that out. There were several cameras on you both at all times and I am just showing the best angles of each. If you see something you want a closer look at, I can probably get you a better angle."

"Thanks, Hec." Meagan said.

"It's driving me crazy. There is something wrong with this whole mess and I can't put my finger on what," I said. "I've watched it about a dozen times and I can't make it out."

I watched their reactions to watching themselves on camera. "Just like old times." Meagan said with an almost sad smile to Ranger. He barely nodded his head but didn't take his eyes off the screen. "Julio, would you go check on the kids working the counter later?"

"Of course, Amada," he replied.

The screen went blank as the video from the coffee shop ended and went to an empty cell. "I wish there was audio here," I said. "It would be nice to know what they say."

"Primo?" Ranger asked.

"Yup." Julio replied. He got up and stood closer to the 70-inch television. The door in the video opened and Ranger was dragged into the cell by two men. "He's a heavy fucker. How many hours do you think he spends in the gym?" Julio said. Of course, he could read lips. I mean why not? "I don't know. Probably a couple hours a day."

"Good guess," I teased and Ranger's lips tipped up even though he didn't actually smile. I was sitting to Lester's left on the sofa but Ranger was standing and leaning against the wall. Lester had his arm around the back of the sofa and his body heat was beckoning to me. It was chilly in the apartment so I shifted closer to him and he grabbed the back of my belt and dragged me the rest of the way over until my back was leaning up against his side and my legs were stretched out on the sofa. He then grabbed a throw off of the back of the sofa and tossed it over me.

Ranger raised an eyebrow at this quick little exchange, but didn't comment. "Lester's furnace-like qualities are one of the reasons I married him," Meagan observed and he dropped a kiss on the top of her forehead.

There was very little happening on screen. Ranger was lying in a heap on the floor and the room was empty. A few minutes later the door opened again. The two men who had dragged Ranger in and Anthony Beals entered the cell. Beals was cradling an unconscious Meagan in his arms.

"That's about the creepiest thing I think I've seen in a while," Meagan said.

"It gets weirder," I told her.

"Oy Spoilers!" Julio scolded. In the video the two men suspended two sets of shackles from hardware in the ceiling. Beals carried Meagan over to one set, his men attached them to her wrists and Beals released her, leaving her dangling from the ceiling, her feet not even close to touching the floor. Meagan frowned and both Bobby and Julio looked at her. Hanging like that for a protracted period of time should have caused damage to her joints.

"Just keep watching. I'm fine."

The men in the video started speaking again, "They are just cursing because Ranger is heavy," Julio said. They hung Ranger from the ceiling and Beals made sure his feet were flat, supporting his own body weight. "I don't want her injured more than necessary. We can't leave her like this. Cuff her to a chair."

The two men left and Beals stood alone in the room with Meagan and Ranger. He walked over to Ranger and examined him carefully. "Is there an angle where we can see what he's saying?" Julio asked. The screen seemed to spin so we could get a view of Beals. Hector backed up the video to where Beals started speaking, "You haven't changed," he said. He reached out and placed a palm flat on Ranger's chest and looked at him almost reverently. Then he let his hand drop and walked over to Meagan. Hector adjusted the angles again, Beals was about to open his mouth again but snapped it shut when the door opened behind him. The three of them carefully took Meagan down from the restraints and placed her gently in the chair. "I want the cuffs tight; she can slip them otherwise," Beals said. "I don't want them marking her skin though. She's delicate."

This drew an amused snort from every man in the room.

"Hey!" Meagan laughed, "I can be delicate!"

"Sure, Gorgeous," Lester and Bobby said in indulgent unison.

Video Meagan was finally fully restrained and Beals was left alone in the room with them again. He walked over to Meagan and carefully pulled the tie out of her hair. He pulled the mass of blonde to the side and cut a small lock of her hair away. He carefully placed the lock in a plastic bag and then bent so he could smell her hair. Real Meagan had gone really still watching this. If I were watching someone do that to me, I'd have a serious case of the heebie jeebies. It was hard to say what Meagan was feeling. Lester had tensed behind me; he wasn't happy, that was obvious. Beals didn't say anything more and left. The video shifted to an hour later and the three men returned.

"I know why you want her, but who's the dude?" One of the men asked.

"Her husband." Beals replied, "Do not underestimate him. Don't underestimate either of them. I have to go back to New Jersey and I'll return in the morning. If they wake up before then, I want you to dose them again."

"We got her twice. Is that gonna be a good idea, Sir?" one of the men asked.

"She'll be fine," Beals said.

"She'll be dead," Bobby muttered and gave her knee a squeeze like he was just double checking that she was still there. He did that a lot actually. She responded by leaning forward and giving his hand an affectionate squeeze.

Beals walked out of the room leaving the two men alone with Meagan and Ranger. They were staring at Meagan in a way that would have made me uncomfortable even if I didn't already know what was about to happen. Hector's jaw was tight. He'd seen this part a few times, too.

"Think they're real?" One of the men muttered "They are too perfect to be real."

"Only one way to find out," the other replied with a smirk. He crouched down in front of Meagan and squeezed one of her breasts, "They're real. Damn." He let her go then ran his hands up the insides of her thighs. "Think the boss will let us have a go when he's done with her?"

"I doubt it and if he catches you feeling up the goods before he gets back, he'll kill you."

"I say we have a little fun with her when she wakes up. If we dress her when we're done with her, he won't know. Any bruises could be from when we grabbed them."

"Fine, but don't mark her face or he'll be pissed."

"Until later, Beautiful." He stroked her cheek and walked out of the room. I glanced nervously at Meagan and Ranger. They were both smiling scary smiles. These guys were already dead and I got the feeling that they didn't really feel all that bad about it now.

The video skipped ahead again to when Ranger and Meagan woke up, "And I have no idea what they are saying because they aren't speaking any of the three languages I know." Julio said with a laugh.

"I was cursing in Finnish." Meagan said. We watched her get Ranger's belt off. Julio and Ranger looked mildly disturbed. Bobby, Hector and Joe had a glazed look in their eyes and Lester looked smug.

"She can work buttons like that, too." Lester grinned.

"Didn't need to know that, Primo," Ranger said. "I didn't even want to know she could do that with a belt."

"I just gotta ask though, Meagan," I put in. "Were you a pole dancer at some point because damn your thighs are strong."

"Desserts," everyone but Meagan and Jeanne Ellen said.

"It's a long story that involves a lot of alcohol and a dare. Joe's already heard it." Meagan explained, "Let's just say it's why Lester owed me that body shot when they invaded ladies' night."

Julio burst out laughing. We all looked at him, "She just told Ranger to stop being decorative." Even Ranger chuckled with the rest of us. She did something when she crouched over the body of the man who had groped her and all of the men yelled, "Whoa!" in disturbed appreciation.

"Ahh Justice." Meagan smirked.

"What did you do there?" I asked.

"She cut off his thumb," Julio said.

"And I'm gonna puke."

"Ranger said you'd say that when you saw that," Meagan said.

"Why.. Why… Why did you cut his thumb off?" I moaned.

"To unlock his phone." Meagan shrugged like it was no big thing.

"She should have taken his whole fucking hand," Lester growled.

"Yeah, but that would have been messy and it wouldn't have fit in my pocket."

We watched the rest of the video in silence. The only part of their escape that wasn't on video was the time they spent in the room that I assumed was the shrine to them, a fact they confirmed.

When it was over, Hector turned off the television.

"So now what?" Jeanne Ellen asked.

"Now Ranger and I comb through 11 years of our military records to see how we know Beals. Then Joe and I report in to the FBI and tell them that this is now a jurisdictional nightmare and Ranger and I may have to throw our weight around a bit to keep the lead in the investigations."

I had an idea now that I knew what they had been saying in the video, "You and Lester moved in together right after you met right?"

"Yes." Meagan adjusted so she could look at me, "What has that beautiful mind of yours figured out?"

It was said without a trace of irony and from someone as brilliant as Meagan it felt damned good to hear her say that.

"Well, he called Ranger your husband. I may be biased; but while there is a definite strong family resemblance between the Santos boys and Ranger and Marco, I don't think there's any way they could mistake one for the other. Maybe it's a girl thing; but even if they weren't all different heights, skin tones and builds, their eyes alone are all very distinctive. I haven't met Marco, but I'd bet money on him having eyes as striking as these three."

"Like melted milk chocolate," Meagan said; "but I honestly don't know if a guy would notice something like that." She nudged Bobby with her toe.

"Yeah, it's the first thing you notice when you see the four of them together," Bobby said, "mostly because of the way girls walk into walls around them."

"You're hardly hard on the eyes, B," Meagan said. "You've caused many girls to make asses of themselves, myself included, and I should be immune." She tipped her head back to look up at Lester, "What color were your grandfather's eyes?"

"Ric got Abuelo's eyes, though his eyes never went hard like Ric's do, and he was always smiling."

"Your point, Babe? I'm assuming you have one," Ranger interjected.

"My point is this you aren't identical, not even close, and Beals had a shrine to the two of you. He knows who you are assuming he saw the papers leading up to and after the reception so there's no way he mistakes you for Lester. Why then would he say that you were her husband?"

"Excellent question," Meagan said.

"So it's got me thinking, If he met you two, he must have seen your chemistry and I'm guessing that before she met Lester there was probably a little bit of unexplored sexual tension?"

"I'm not dead," Meagan said.

"He probably saw that and assumed, as close as you were, that you were more than just partners, and I'm guessing after you met Lester that tension was no longer there?"

"Actually as hard as this is going to be to believe, it was just after she met Bobby," Ranger said.

Startled, I turned to look at Meagan.

"Look at him!" She said defensively, "Ranger is like my brother, having a sexual attraction to him was disturbing. Then Bobby comes along and he's got the second best set of abs I've ever seen in my life. It was a relief, really, to not find Carlos the most attractive man around. Then Lester showed up and, well, he does have the best abs I've ever seen on a man and he's even hotter than Bobby. What's a girl to do?"

"I'm not sure how I feel about the turn this conversation has taken," Bobby said philosophically.

"I dunno if this is good or bad for you, man," Lester agreed. "I just know that it's going very well for me." His smile was still somewhat smug.

"How do you think I feel?" Julio interrupted, "She's never even looked at me as more than a big brother. Back when we were all still going to school she'd kiss these two idiots," referring to Hector and Ranger. "Never even looked at me twice and I'm better looking than either of them. It's sad really to be relegated to the big brother role…"

"Oh, shut up!" She laughed, "We met when I was 12 and I had a huge crush on you and you know it. I was just 12 and you were 18 and you still only saw me as a 12-year-old until I was 22 and you walked in on Lester and I going at it like rabbits against his bookshelf."

"She might have a point."

"Speaking of points, Plum here was about to make one," Burrows interrupted.

"My point is, I think that if he picked up on sexual tension between the two of you, then it was probably before you met Lester. You enlisted when you were 18, met up with Ranger when you were 20 and met Lester when you were 22, so that means you only have two years of military records to comb through."

"I'm sitting here wondering how you guys ever get anything done around here," Joe spoke up for the first time. He was seriously amused at Ranger's complete lack of control over the people in the room. It was the fact that it was basically all family in the room. If we'd been in a conference room, they wouldn't have been so unprofessional.

"That took an exceptionally long time for you to get to that point. We have other concerns here, like Terri. We need her in this building and Vito wants a meeting. Not to mention, what do we do about Beals now? We can't send Cupcake back there. Not to mention that the Director is going to go completely out of his tree when he finds out that we have no evidence from the kidnapping and that not one of those men in the coffee shop has a single connection to Beals that we can find."

"Contact Vito and tell him that Ranger and I need to speak to him immediately," Meagan said to Burrows, "and then go get some sleep. You look like you need it." Burrows made the call, set the appointment up for an hour later and left.

As soon as she was gone, I asked Hector to start the video over again from the point where Meagan and Ranger woke up. I watched it through twice more.

"What." Joe asked, "you have that 'Dog with a Bone' look again."

"It's too easy," I blurted out what had been in my head for so long but felt stupid coming out of my mouth; but once I said it I couldn't have stopped my mouth from speaking if I had tried, "Think about it! He sends like twenty guys crashing into a Starbucks to grab you, loads you up with a shit load of drugs for transportation and tells his men not to underestimate you two. Yet he leaves only 8 men to guard you? There were at least four cameras in that cell and nobody saw Meagan climb Mount Rangemore but you met almost no resistance getting out of there. Every time you came across someone they were shocked to see you. Someone should have raised an alarm somewhere, but it didn't happen. Why?"

"She's hurting my ego, Carlos. Like really hurting it because she's completely right and we should have realized that. Yes, we have mad skills and no doubt we'd have gotten out no problem, but it was a little easy. I mean the man told them I could get out of cuffs. He obviously knew it was a stupid restraint to use on me so why would he?"

"Hermana, how long would the shackles have taken?"

"I dunno? I was kind of groggy, maybe fifteen minutes long enough for someone to notice if they were watch a rotating security feed."

"So why go through all that trouble to grab you if he was only going to let you go," I asked.

"I'm feeling so much less cool now. I mean at least it looked good," she muttered and I felt Lester shake with muted laughter behind me. Her grousing was rather adorable.

"It was still impressive, Tink." Bobby said, "I doubt I could have climbed Ranger like that." Ranger shuddered at the thought and we all laughed.

"Maybe it was a trial run?" Joe suggested, "Maybe it was to see what you were capable of."

Meagan looked at Lester's watch, "So the options are that he was stupid and underestimated us or for reasons passing all understanding he went through a lot of trouble to capture us only to let us go. Excellent." She unclipped the IV from her arm much to the protests of both Julio and Bobby. She waved them off and untangled herself from Lester and Bobby and got off the sofa. "I need to get dressed. I have to meet with a mob boss and I doubt he'll pay much attention to me in these clothes." Bobby and Julio were about to protest again so she assured them, "I'll leave the catheter in and you can pump me full of more fluids and whatever the hell else you think I need after I meet with Vito."

She left the room and came back ten minutes later dressed in a very nice pant suit and very soft black flats, "Yo pattern boy," she said.

"She means me," Julio said sotto voce. "What's up, Amada?"

"Go through everything. Find a pattern to the assaults. Help us nail this bastard."

"Already been through a lot of it. There's something with the addresses."

"Get Stephanie to help you." Ranger said, "She's good at spotting things we miss."

"Joey? You're with me. When we're done meeting with Vito we need to go speak to the Director," Meagan said and with that the party broke up.

AN: I have been trying to post this all week for you! My hope it works this time!


	8. Chapter 8

The meeting with Terri and Vito started off well. Meagan and Vito exchange pleasantries, talked about some mutual friends in the old country, and then Terri saw Joe and well it just sort of went down hill from there. It was nice to witness the Morelli temper without being on the receiving end of it for a change; but given everything that was going on, hearing Terri call Morelli enough names that I wanted to start taking notes so I could use them later, wasn't exactly productive. Meagan pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"They always been like this?" She asked Vito.

"Always. They will yell themselves out…."

"WELL IF YOU HAD JUST TOLD ME THE TRUTH INSTEAD OF LEADING ME ON I WOULDN'T HAVE BLOWN YOUR COVER, YOU IDIOT!"

"HAVE I EVER DODGED YOU WHEN I WASN'T GOING UNDERCOVER? USE YOUR FUCKING HEAD OR HAVE THE CHEMICALS YOU USE TO COLOR YOUR HAIR FINALLY SEEPED THROUGH AND AFFECTED YOUR BRAINS?"

"SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN AND I'LL LET THE GUYS AT THE PRECINCT KNOW WHERE EXACTLY YOU GO TO HAVE YOUR ASS WAXED."

"YOU DO THAT AND I'LL TELL ALL YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS JUST HOW MUCH EXTRA ASSISTANCE YOU ADD TO YOUR WONDERBRA!"

"eventually," Vito finished.

I leaned closer to Vito, "All we need is for Terri to be in her cheerleader uniform and the feeling of being back in high school will be complete." When it degenerated into the shouting match, Ranger and Lester had abandoned us having better things to do. What really was pissing me off was that I was starting to identify with Terri in this argument, and it was all I could do _not_ to step in and take her side against Joe. It was more than a little disturbing considering that we've always been rivals.

"Well, we don't have time for them to yell themselves out," Meagan said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small revolver. It was a little 22 and it wasn't loaded so she reached into another pocket and pulled some bullets out and remedied that problem. She pointed the gun at the window to her left and rapidly fired off three shots. Joe and Terri immediately dropped to the floor and covered their heads, I jumped about nine feet in the air, Vito stuck his finger in his ear to stop the ringing while Meagan calmly examined her cuticles.

"Huh. I need a manicure," she muttered.

On that statement the door burst opened behind us and Lester, Bobby and Ranger came rushing into the room, "Whoa whoa whoa." Lester gingerly walked up to his wife, "Baby, it's probably too early for you to be armed just yet." He put his hand over the weapon that wasn't actually pointed at anyone then lowered it. He took the gun from her and handed it to Bobby who passed it off to someone outside of the room.

That seemed to snap Joe and Terri out of their shock and they both hit their feet. "ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!" they both yelled at her.

"Well, yeah." The look on her face clearly indicated that they had asked a completely stupid question.

"What the hell were you doing?" Joe shouted.

"I have a headache and you guys were yelling. I needed to get your attention."

"Baby, I'm sorry but you could have just flashed the lights, we're practically programmed in grade school to shut up when someone flashes the lights, or you could have whistled. That works too." Lester chuckled nervously, "The gun was overkill."

She turned and patted his cheek, "Relax, handsome, it's full of blanks. Wouldn't have hurt anyone."

That's when we all realized the window she'd shot at was still in fact, intact. Vito was beaming at her, "My brother was right. I adore you, Pixie." She winked at him in response.

"Think we can get them to work now or should you and I go find some place quiet to talk?"

"Sit. If they start screaming at each other again, you can prove to me that the story about the stapler is true." He pulled out a seat for her and noticed the IV cath in her hand. "What's that for?"

"I was drugged last night." With that she launched into the story so far. The case, the kidnapping, the victims, all of it. I was surprised with how forthcoming she was about it.

"Why are you involved in this? A serial killer is interesting but below your pay grade." He asked when she was finished.

"We think he's involved in a human trafficking ring and we want to bring the ring down."

"Tell me about this ring?"

"You don't deal in people, Vito, at least not in this sense."

"True, but I might be able to point you in the right direction, speak to people you might not be in contact with. It's in my best interest to get this mook off the streets."

She handed around an edited version of the FBI file concerning the human trafficking ring and waited while Terri and Vito got caught up. I went through the file again to refresh my memory.

Two years ago the FBI received an anonymous tip about a sweat shop operating in Miami. When they raided it and began questioning the women from the sweatshop, three of the women, and I use that term loosely because they were 19, had the same story. They were all from different small Eastern European towns. They received letters from different German Universities offering them full scholarships and an all-expense-paid trip to tour the campus. Their instructions were to fly to Munich Airport where they would meet with a representative from the school who would escort them the rest of the way.

Once in Munich, they were drugged and put in the back of a cargo van. When they woke up, they were wearing different color scrubs-some wore white and some wore blue. The girls that wore blue were taken straight to the sweat shops. The ones who were wore white were fed fertility drugs and forced into prostitution until they became pregnant. Once they delivered, their babies were sold, and the women went up for auction and sold to the sweat shops or back into prostitution. Those in the sweat shop were told that once they'd worked off the cost of their medical expenses and their purchase price, they would be free to go. They made $10 a day and half of that they had to give back to pay for their meals. Their stories were put into the FBI database and they discovered that the same story had been popping up all over the country for the last six years.

A week after the raid they got another tip, this one about a cargo ship. The ship came in and they found a container with 20 women in it-all with the same story. While going over the manifest of companies with cargo on that particular freighter, Nadel Clothiers International stood out.

NCI, a massive uniform supply company, was the maker of the scrubs the girls in container were wearing. It was too big of a coincidence not to investigate further and more coincidences kept showing up. Like their European Headquarters was in Munich. Some of the women who testified had overheard the crew talking about when they were due to land in MIami and these dates coincided with dates that NCI had major shipments arrive in Miami as well. It was enough to start a full scale investigation into NCI.

NCI was founded by a man named Walter Nadel. A man of many interests, Nadel had his fingers in many pies, anything from textiles to real estate and he made a lot of money doing it. Fifteen years ago, after being diagnosed with ALS, Walter was faced with a tough decision. Who would inherit his business? He was the father of 4 highly intelligent, well-educated children, all of whom had been working for his various companies since they had been legally allowed to hold paying jobs. His solution was to sell off all but his four top money makers and leave one company to each of his four children. The profits of the sales of the other companies were divided equally among his children; the rest of his assets were liquidated and divided up amongst his 11 grandchildren and 28 great grandchildren.

His youngest child, a daughter named Margaret, met and married an Army Captain by the name of Anthony Beals. Beals had received an Other Than Honorable discharge from the Army for failure to follow orders and was finding it difficult to find work. He came from a wealthy family himself but he was bored not being able to work. Upon receiving her inheritance from her father and having zero interest in working outside of the home, Margaret promptly signed the company over to her husband.

At the time NCI was making a steady profit manufacturing nothing but school uniforms, but the company was starting to stagnate and in 2008 they were hit hard. That's when Beals had the company expand into workplace uniforms. While others were losing money, NCI was cleaning up.

Around the same time, the first stories of the trafficking scheme started showing up. In every city where the authorities found women with the same story as the girls from the first sweatshop, NCI had a distribution center. About the time each of the women remember being in Munich, Beals was in Munich, and he was in the cities that had the auctions around the times of the auctions.

The problem-the reason they couldn't arrest him-was that all of the evidence was circumstantial. NCI was the leading global supplier of medical scrubs so the girls were wearing scrubs made by NCI was hardly a smoking gun and neither was the container of goods on a ship delivering thousands of containers. Simply being in a major city at the time of the auctions meant nothing because they couldn't prove he was involved.

During their investigation of Beals, an agent fresh out of the academy who was assigned to do grunt work on the trafficking case decided, for reasons passing understanding, to comb through newspapers looking for Beals. That's when she came across the first three Miami murders. Three times Beals appeared as either a feature in the Business Section or in the Society Pages of the paper and the next day the front page story would be of the home invasion and murder of a petite blonde woman with dark eyes. The stories and the murders were so spread out that nobody had connected them before. Once she found that she kept digging and found more bodies starting from 8 years prior to the beginning of the investigation until up to three years ago when the killings suddenly stopped.

Probably not so coincidentally, the last and (up until last night's killing) the most brutal of the murders, happened two days after the memorial service held for Meagan. There was nothing until January, again probably not a coincidence, another body showed up. Then Beals uprooted his family and moved them to New Jersey and the murders moved with them.

Vito read through the file, "You sure this is the guy doing the killings?"

"As sure as we can be without solid physical evidence. Everything we have is circumstantial much like the trafficking." Joe said.

"He's a patsy for the trafficking." Vito said, "I know who's running that circus and it ain't Tony Beals."

Meagan raised an eyebrow, "Who's doing it?"

"His name is Alphonso Abandonato. His family has a cheap clothing company that supplies big department stores. They use them as laundromats for some of their other less savory trade enterprises. He's been trying to break into the uniforms market for a while now. NCI keeps beating them out and Alphonso isn't so happy about it. He's been bringing his girls over to coincide with NCI shipments so that in the event of a bust you'd look at Beals. A public investigation of NCI would be very bad for business and would make room in the market for Alphonso's company."

"You know this how?"

"He told me over a poker game after he'd had too much to drink."

"But you wouldn't be willing to testify to that," Meagan said.

"And leave myself open to all kinds of questions about my own legitimate business practices? I will tell you, in an anonymous tip type fashion, that if you were to speak to Tommy Spellecki…"

"Tommy the Fish?" I clarified.

"That's him. He's what you would call a disgruntled employee. I'm sure he could be persuaded to testify and give evidence against his boss in exchange for protection and a deal."

Meagan rubbed her temples and put her sunglasses on, still rocking the headache I guess, "What's Tommy the Fish wanted for? Anything major?"

"He's a bagman mostly but he's been present to receive shipments in New York. I'll bet you find out he's been at most of the auctions around here," Vito said and stood.

"You're awfully free with the information. How do we know we aren't just getting rid of some of your competition for you?" Morelli demanded.

"Believe me, Morelli, this information isn't free. I wouldn't be volunteering anything if I didn't have orders to assist you in every way possible." He looked to Meagan, "This should make up for Prague."

She held his gaze and stated, "Beals is mine, Vito. Keep out of it and I'll consider Brussels even as well. If something happens to him and I find out your family is involved…"

"No need to continue that threat Little One, I'm not stupid. I have no desire to be on the receiving end of the wrath of all of the families because I got in your way."

"We understand each other then." Her voice was chilling and her black eyes glittered with the unspoken threat.

He nodded and walked out of the room.

"Do I want to know?" Ranger asked.

"I had to make some new friends after I died," Meagan said defensively, the hardness gone from her eyes. "I couldn't really trust many of the men I worked with; I was sure a lot of them were going to try to kill me. Alexander Ramos reminded me that while undercover I made some friends in some rather interesting places. I made sure I cultivated these friendships. If I am honest, it saved my ass quite a few times having people who could supply me with everything I needed from weapons to shelter without asking too many questions"

"What she means is that since she died nobody is sure where her loyalties lie and she's just fucking crazy enough that most of the major families in Europe decided that it was in their best interests not to piss her off," Terri said.

Meagan tossed her pen on the table and shrugged, "Well, you say potato."


	9. Chapter 9

_**I'm back! After sending War and Peace off to my Beta to edit (Her words. Thanks Di!) I now have a bunch of chapters almost ready for you. Here is the first of them! My computer is currently in purgatory and I am trying to do everything from my iPad until it's either repaired or replaced. You might have the bear with me for a while.**_

The meeting with Vito ended shortly after he gave them the tip. Morelli and Meagan left to speak to their boss at the FBI, while Ranger and Lester left to pick up Alphonso Abandonato for questioning. I was back in my cube doing the usual day-to-day searches that had piled up over the last few days. Not that anyone would use the information from them anytime soon as everyone in the building had been on this case since the kidnapping, but I needed something productive to do to take my mind off of things for an hour or so.

"So the thing about me…" I jumped in my seat and, once I recovered from my heart attack, I spun my chair and looked up at a grinning Santos Sr, "Really? You work with this bunch and live with Ric and I was able to startle you? You really…"

"Need to be more aware of my surroundings. I know," then groaned followed by a rueful laugh and briefly buried my face in my hands. As I looked back up at him, I asked, "What's the thing about you?"

"Oh yeah," He lost the slightly mocking look and seemed to remember he came to see me with a point, "The thing about me is that I have a very, very good memory and something troubling came up while I was going over what little evidence we have so I'm bringing it to you since the Boss said we should work together. Also Meagan, Ric and Morelli are currently busy and if I don't get this off my chest, it's possible I'll do something stupid to vent my frustrations like kiss Hector in the middle of the office or something just to piss him off."

"I dunno, Hector has been on a bit of dry spell lately; he might enjoy it."

"Of course he would enjoy it. I would enjoy it too; but the thing is we don't cross that particular line. I live in three different cities and I don't have the best reputation when it comes to monogamy and Hector demands it which I would be fine with except that he'd be all insecure with the long distance thing and we'd fight a lot because I'd think he didn't trust me. It would be all bad." That babbling revelation was just so loaded with about absolutely everything that my head almost exploded. About fifty-seven questions went through my mind at once, all fighting to come out at one time. The one that won the fight?

"Honestly is Lester the only one in your family who isn't completely commitment phobic?!" I practically shouted, "I mean come on!"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure the men in my family have turned relationship avoidance into a sport-one at which we excel. We just like to be sure of who we're with and, in this case, well…I'm sure of Hector but I don't know how he'd handle being with me. I need to get more settled before I even think of offering him anything so, for now, we stay friends and leave it that way."

"Does he at least know how you feel?" I asked and he waved me off.

"Of course he does. We've been doing this particular dance for about…" He screwed up his face, "…God 14 years? Really? Maaaan that makes me feel old." I shook my head in disbelief at him. In that time Julio actually got married! Poor Hec, no wonder he was always so sympathetic when Ranger was being an ass.

"All right, tell me what's on your mind," I sighed.

"Yeah, not here. Let's go bug Hector now that we are talking about him." He pulled me to my feet and we took the stairs down to Hector's office on 3. We walked past the conference rooms and the cubes belonging to Hector's minions towards the recluse's lair and heard the click as he unlocked the door at our approach.

We liked to joke about Hector being basically a hermit who resented it every time someone dragged him out of his seclusion. The reality was the Server was in here and Hector didn't trust anyone not to mess up his masterpiece. That and he was actually content to stay in his office all day pretending to be omniscient, whereas the rest of the team got restless if they didn't get active. Hector got out too; he just didn't whine if there was no need for him to leave the building for a few days.

"14 years, Hec?" I asked and he grinned at me.

"We're comfortable with where we are, Angelita. Why are you here disturbing my peace?"

I flopped down in his guest chair and pointed over my shoulder with my thumb at Julio. "I dunno. Ask him."

He turned to Julio, "You're bothering me. Why are you here?" Under normal circumstances, Hector saying that in the menacing tone he used just now would probably have been enough to make me mess myself. Except, now knowing what I know about them, I noticed that while his face and tone said "fuck off or I'll cut you" his eyes were smiling. Julio completely ignored the tone of voice and flopped into the chair next to mine with about all the grace of Joe's dog, Bob, when he's been denied a treat and he's sulking.

He blurted, "I've figured something out!"

"Alert the media." Hector sounded bored and went back to typing something incomprehensible on his computer. Given the smile twitching just beneath the surface it was said like that just to wind Julio up. It worked because I could have sworn that if he weren't 37 and super cool he probably would have stuck his tongue out at Hector. Instead he simply flipped Hector off and then launched into his brain wave.

"Eight years ago, a week before my wife actually tossed me out, someone broke into my house. Our cleaning lady was hit over the head with something while she was cleaning my office, she was seriously injured and the place was trashed. The whole house was turned upside down but special attention was paid to my office. Considering that I was a trauma surgeon in New York and I dealt with a lot of gang related violence and because of certain uh past affiliations I may have, there was some off the books concern that a rival gang was pissed that I couldn't put one of their homies back together again. Either that or they thought that I didn't try hard enough with someone."

"I remember." Hector said, "Yeah, the cops were concerned about it. We figured they were barking up the wrong tree because there would have been a message and someone would have taken credit. When we mentioned that, the cops decided that it was a crime of opportunity."

"Why opportunity?" I asked.

"My ex and I were a week away from splitting; we fought a lot." Julio said, "When we left the house that night we were distracted and according to the alarm company we didn't set the alarm and the door didn't even latch fully. Someone looking for an easy score might have seen us leaving the house. That's what the police went with anyway and nothing ever came of the investigation. We wrote it off like that, too. The only things of value missing were some of my wife's jewellery and some cash I kept in my desk."

"He has a point somewhere. Don't worry he'll get to it eventually." Hector rolled his eyes, "Sometimes we just have to let him talk himself out."

"Fuck off. So remember how I told Meagan and Ric there was something about the dates? I started looking at all of the significant days that we know about and crossed off all of the ones concerning the trafficking."

"Aaaaand," Hector made a get on with it motion with his hand, still staring at his computer.

"The first murder took place 24 hours after the break in at my place. Estimated time of death was almost exactly 24 hours after my housekeeper managed to hit the panic button in my office. It seemed like a coincidence, but I don't like coincidences, so I checked and found that while Beals was living in New York at the time, he was in Miami the same night as the attack! He flew home the next morning. I thought, 'Two coincidences? Yeah not buying it.' So I thought I'd go through the evidence we have. Meagan grabbed anything she believed was important from the creepy shrine room in Boston and took pictures of the room. I found this in Meagan's cargos." He slapped a photograph in an evidence bag down on Hector's desk. Hector leaned forward and looked at the picture, raised both eyebrows in shock then looked back up at Julio.

I picked up the picture and looked at it. It was an adorable picture if a little sad. Meagan and Ranger were obviously quite young in the photo, and it was an actual photograph not a computer printout. I couldn't help but smile at it even if the source was a little creepy. They looked like two peas in pod.

"What?" Hector asked.

"I asked Meagan what Ranger was like as a teenager and she said, 'Skinnier.' She wasn't kidding." In the picture he clearly hadn't grown into himself but he was still extremely good looking for… I flipped the picture over and saw the date of the picture on the back… he would have been 14 then my eyes snapped up to Hector. "That's your handwriting."

He nodded and grabbed one of the picture frames on his desk and handed it to me. It was the same picture. "I took the picture three days after Ric got out."

"And those dark spots that look like dirt on the photo? That's human blood. We are testing it for DNA now," Julio said excitedly.

"What happened to her arm?" I asked, noting the pink cast.

"That's the question you ask?" Julio looked incredulous. "Creepy stalker, kidnapper dude has a picture of them from when they were kids and you don't ask how he got it or why there is blood on the photo? You ask about the cast?"

"Well, I figured you were going to go there eventually and I was curious about the cast."

"Captain of the football team threw her down a flight of stairs when she wouldn't put out," Hector snarled.

"SHE WAS 12!"

"We know. It's horrible and no justice was served because they wouldn't take her word for it. She hit her head when she fell down the stairs and they told her she was confused, that he was actually there to help her so that's why she remembered him. As sad as that was, it wasn't even the worst thing that happened at that school. Worse still it came on the heels of her parent's death-like within a couple of months. I don't want to sound insensitive, because believe me it still bothers me; but it's not the issue right now," Julio said impatiently.

"I feel like giving the poor girl a hug all of the sudden," I muttered. No wonder she looked so sad in the picture.

"Well, she's not here and she would think you had suddenly lost it if you did give her a random hug. Can we PUHLEASE get on topic?" Julio was getting testy and was going to burst if he didn't tell someone what was on his mind. I looked at Hector who was fighting back his amusement at Julio's irritation. From what I gather Julio is usually a pretty chill guy so part of me was extremely tempted to ask him another stupid question just to see if his head would explode; but I decided to have mercy on him. Also, what he had to say was obviously important.

"How did he get the picture, Julio?" I asked the obvious question.

"He got it from my house. We were short-staffed at the hospital so my wife was the one who went through my office with the police to see what was missing. She didn't think anything was missing beyond the couple hundred dollars that was in my desk. We assumed that was the sort of thing they were after.

When they released the room, she cleaned up but a lot of the pictures had to be thrown out and anything that had our housekeeper's blood on it was taken away as evidence. I didn't think anything of the picture being missing and had Hector have another copy made for me; but as it turns out, Beals had it all along!"

"Why would he break into your house?" I asked him. "No offense but he basically ignored the existence of Lester and she's obsessed with Les so why would Beals care about you?"

"Because… Ahh! I can't tell you that! She'd kill me." Julio was getting ready to turn himself inside out with frustration and, of course, a statement like that was enough to make both Hector and I rabid with curiosity. Julio is a smart guy, he knew there is no way he could say something like that without us badgering him. Besides, you could see that he wanted to share his secret. He jumped to his feet and started pacing, running his hands through his hair as indecision tore through him. Finally he stopped, "Fine! If I run my mouth a bit and because of it, you guess, then I technically didn't tell you. Let's start with this. I know for a fact that Meagan lies about having had a crush on me when she was little. Ric…yes, and even Hec for a while; but not me."

"I dunno," I said philosophically, "A hormonal twelve-year-old girl crushing on an older, good-looking soon-to-be doctor with badass friends; it's not that much of a stretch. I'd have a crush on you and as the lady says, she's not dead."

"I _KNOW_ she didn't, okay? Hector, with as much money as Meagan had, did you ever question why I was a co-signer on your apartment lease?"

"I did. I asked her. She said that since neither of us were 18 when we got the place, the landlord wanted an adult's name on the lease. Something about insurance, she said that his insurance company didn't give a shit about her emancipation."

"So why me and not Ella or Luis? There had to be a reason, right? Here's another question to mull over. What is my favorite place in the world?"

"NYC." Hector replied.

"What city can't I stand?"

"Boston."

"Why then, after getting accepted to both Harvard and NYU for med school and going to NYU for a semester, would I suddenly transfer to Harvard?"

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed. I could feel my eyes go wide as the penny dropped. Julio jumped up triumphantly and pointed at me excitedly. "You weren't Lester's best man…"

"Yes! Exactly!"

"But you couldn't have been more than…" I started doing the math.

"19. I was 19." he finished for me.

"But why you? Why not Ella? Or her Godfather?"

"It's a very long story. Trust me. It's… I'll tell you another time, okay? You understand why Beals would be interested in me and not Lester, right?"

"Oh, yeah," I said. "You're right, he certainly had a motive for breaking in; but would a judge give you a search warrant based on a picture?"

"Me? No. Meagan? It might be enough. We aren't trying to get him on the human trafficking anymore, right? We just need a foot in the door. This is that foot in the door. Anyway, I can't get through to any of them. It's driving me crazy."

"Call Ranger from my phone. Speed dial one." I tossed him my cell, "He always picks up for me." Julio grabbed my face and kissed my cheek with unnecessary loudness and then left the office.

He came back a few seconds later, "Listen Steph, nobody knows. Not even Ric or Les or Ella. We didn't tell anyone, okay. We had good reasons. I'll explain everything later. It's… Meagan is really fucked up and she has very good reason to be the way she is. Yeah…just…I have to call Ric; but we'll talk later. Just don't say anything to Les or Ric until Meagan and I explain, all right?"

"I won't. I promise." I crossed my heart for him. He looked over at Hector. Hector was looking at us as if we'd lost our minds.

"Spell it out for him, okay? Just don't let it leave this room." He left again with the phone.

"Stephanie?" Hector was staring at me now, "Why would Beals be interested in Julio?"

"Meagan is a super-secret-spec-ops-spy type so she's not easy to find, right? Whenever I am trying to find a skip, where do I spend the most time looking?"

"Family." Hector said.

"Specifically, I try to get information from their parents first. Parents always know more than other people do."

"Meagan's parents' death was national news for weeks. She was hounded by the press for ages. Tabloids had a field day with it. The only way Beals talks to Meagan's parents is via séance."

"Hector, you're being dense and I don't know if it's because you are in denial or if you really can't see it. Traditionally who gives the bride away at the wedding?"

"The father of the bride."

"Julio gave Meagan away instead of standing as Lester's best man. Why the hell would he do that? He adores his baby brother, it's only natural that he'd be best man; but he wasn't." I was starting to understand Julio's frustration when Hec still didn't get it, "Hector, he gave her away because he _was_ father of the bride. He adopted her when he was 19."

When I left Hector's office a few minutes later, Julio was waiting in the hall and Hector was frozen somewhere between disbelief and anger. I wanted the full story but I had a feeling Hector was about to get it first. I can't even begin to imagine what reason they had for keeping something like that secret. No doubt there was a very good reason for it. He handed me my phone back.

"How is he?" Julio asked.

"Pissed," I replied honestly. "Probably he's upset that you didn't trust him enough to tell him a secret like that. Might I suggest that you tell him everything now?"

"Yeah. I was thinking that." He said with a sigh, "He'll be cool when he knows the whole story. It's just a very long story." He rubbed his hand over his face in an action that was reminiscent of Ranger. His pacing had been very Lester-ish and I wondered if Ranger and Lester picked the motions up from Julio.

"I'm sure it's a good one and I wouldn't worry about Ranger or Les. They know about secrets. Though I am surprised she hasn't told Les."

"For all I know she has," he shrugged. "When this is done, I'll tell you everything. I promise."

"Cool." My phone rang in my hand and I jumped again.

"Maybe it's time to switch to decaf, Babe." He chuckled then looked at me oddly, "Actually…you know what…Nah, never mind. Later. We'll talk later" He touched his key fob to Hector's door.

I answered my phone, "Yo."

"Hey, Steph, it's Linda."

"Linda?" I said somewhat surprised. Julio spun around, grabbed my hand and yanked me back into the inner sanctum. Julio then demonstrated that he was carrying around a massive pair, by walking around the desk, grabbing onto the back of Hector's office chair and yanking him away from the computer, mid keystroke. Hector was just as shocked as I was by this as he seemed momentarily frozen in typing position. Julio bent over the keyboard and began typing furiously. He pulled up a screen with a list of phone numbers and clicked on my cell phone number. My Speaker phone activated in my hand and a recording began on the computer. That was just a whole level of creepy I didn't want to contemplate.

"Hello Steph? You still there?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm here. Bad connection; I was in an elevator."

"No problem! Can you hear me now?"

"Yeah, What's up?"

"So listen, Daddy says he's terminating his contract with you guys," she said. "He didn't really say why…something about Mom not liking your boss. She said she's too full of herself."

"Well, your mom's not wrong there." Hector and Julio nodded their agreement, "She does have a lot of cause to be arrogant though." More nods of agreement.

"Yeah, I think her point is that she shouldn't be. Mom's not comfortable with Security run by a woman who is probably more of a bureaucrat than someone with any real skill."

"Oh. Well she knows that Ranger is…"

"Yeah, but Ranger wasn't the one that did the security at our place and Daddy's asked a couple of times to have someone check the camera placements and nothing's come of it."

"Ahh." I said, "I see." What I saw was that Beals was a big fat liar. I knew everything about this case whether I wanted to or not. If Beals had called to request another security assessment, I would have heard about it.

"Yeah, so anyways. I know it was supposed to be your day off and everything; but…okay…I don't know anyone really yet. I mean there's nobody I want to talk to and, well...I know you and Joe used to… Anyways.. I just need someone to talk to about this. I mean…"

"You need to drink margaritas and bitch about Morelli to a sympathetic ear. Maybe have a girls night."

"Yeah. Exactly."

I looked to Hector and Julio, I mean I couldn't ask Ranger what he thought because he wasn't here. Julio grabbed a pen and scribbled, on a post-it.

_-Pretend I'm Ric. Ask if it's okay to go out tonight._

"Just a second, okay? Ranger is right here and I know he hates it when I go out when we have an active case. Hang on." I pretended to muffle the phone but didn't really, "Ranger, Linda wants to go out tonight to bitch about Morelli."

"Go to Pino's, Babe." Julio's Ranger was scarily good, "Just don't stay out too late. Be back by no later than 10:30." Okay, yeah, if tilted my head and squinted, he_ was_ Ranger. Sooo creepy. Hector obviously thought so too because his nostrils flared a little as he gave Julio a freaked out side eye and shifted his chair further away from him.

"Yeah, Ranger says it's okay. I just can't stay out too late."

"So Pino's at 7:00 then?"

"Yeah, I'll be bringing friends." I hung up my phone and looked at Julio, "Does Ranger know you can do that?"

"Of course he does. Les, Ric and I can all do each other's voices. Great for fooling parents and grandparents who call to check up on you when you say you are at a friend's house."

"I feel so bad for your parents. Rosa, too. You guys were terrible."

"Says the girl who frequently snuck out of her bathroom windows and jumped off the garage roof, not once, but twice."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Serious thanks to my Beta Di and my husband for looking this chapter over for me! JE owns everything, I'm just having fun. I also wanted to thank all of you who reviewed and a special thanks to those who reviewed as Guests. **

The weird Ladies Night was about to get underway. My friends for the evening were going to be Burrows, Connie and Lula; we were going to be going to Pino's which is full of cops plus I was going to have Bobby and Tank tailing me. What could possibly go wrong?

Then I remembered that this was me we were talking about and the answer to that was, of course, everything. With that in mind for my night out to get sauced with Linda, I was wearing jeans and a white girly t-shirt with a pair of converse sneakers that had seen better days. I swiped on a few layers of mascara for courage to combat the bad feeling I had about tonight. I figured I was looking as good as I was going to get and went to meet the girls in the garage.

For the first time since I met her Jeanne Ellen was dressed in casual, non-black clothes. She was wearing an oversized white sweater over a pair of deep blue denim skinny jeans and brown knee high boots. In my opinion the look softened her, and the jury was still out on which look I liked better. Given she was part of my protection I kind of liked it better when she was scary looking. I took comfort in the fact that there was probably a knife in her boot and a gun at the small of her back. Lula had opted for the classic Lula look. She was wearing poison green spandex that, despite the weight loss, was still two sizes too small and stretched to the limit; her hair had been dyed hot pink. Connie was wearing a pair of leopard print skinny jeans and a scooped-neck red sweater that hugged her curves to perfection. All in all we looked pretty good and not like we were trolling. Keeping the girls company in the garage were Tank, Bobby and Julio.

"Steph, you and Lula will take your car. You are both going to be wired which means I want one of you on Linda at all times," Bobby instructed. "Once you are in the bar your goal is to get her talking about her father. Anything you can get her to say would be great. Tink called and they will be executing warrants on the places in Boston and Princeton simultaneously. Anything we can get about her father's plans for tomorrow will make the job easier. We'd also like to know about his men. Has he added non-Rangemen Security now that he's fired us? Do any of the new men scare her etc?"

"Any questions?" Julio asked.

I should have asked if Ranger was really okay with this; I know I should have, but I trusted his men and, frankly, I was dying of curiosity. It seemed somewhat strange that Linda called to ask me out for a girl's night. I mean she's a nurse. Why not ask some of the girls from work? Joe said she was popular at the hospital, not to sound like my mother or anything but, why me?

I felt the back of my neck tingle and heard the door of the garage open. Ranger and Lester were back. Ranger smoothly parked the truck and angled out of it. His expression was unreadable as he walked up to me, "Babe, can I see your gun?" It was a rhetorical question, really, as it was said as he pulled it out of the waistband of my jeans. He checked it over, made sure it was actually loaded and slid it back into place. Next he tugged on the chain around my neck exposing the Batman necklace he had given me on the job in Vegas just before we got married. It was a tracker and panic button. He grinned, tugged the neck of my t-shirt back open and dropped the pendant back between my breasts. His finger grazed the skin on the neckline of my t-shirt before he let go and folded his arms across his chest. "Where are you placing the men?" He ask Julio.

It was dumb to even be worried about whether or not Ranger knew. There is no way his men do anything involving me without clearing it first.

"Bobby and Tank are going to be her visible protection and, obviously, we have Burrows at the table. I've got Hector tapped into the security cameras of both the lot and the bar. He'll follow in a van. Vince is working the bar tonight so the only one getting booze will be Linda. Tink is already at the bar. We're going to let her know when the girls are close then she's going to scope out the ladies' room to make sure the girls can't get grabbed from there. Then Ram is going to take up position at the bar beside the hall to the bathrooms. He'll keep an eye on the restrooms from that point on so Tink can do whatever the hell she wants."

Ranger looked at Lula and Burrows and said, "If Stephanie goes to the washroom, one of you go as well. I want all four of you wired, that way Steph has someone on her inside the restrooms and we still have someone recording Linda."

For the record, I didn't plan on making any trips to the bathroom if I could help it. I mean it had to be a dire emergency because the idea of the guys listening was just…eeew!

"Something I should know about Linda?" I asked, "Is there a reason you don't trust her?"

"Babe, right now I don't trust anyone who doesn't carry Rangeman credentials; especially where you are concerned. You have a habit of attracting trouble."

RSRSRSRSRSRS

Lula and I got into my Porche, and let me tell you, saying the words "my" and "Porsche" together in the same sentence didn't really ever get old. We left the lot leading a parade that soon dispersed. If I hadn't known they were there, I wouldn't have known they were there.

"I don't like that Ranger seems jumpy," Lula said after about a block, "'cause Batman don't do jumpy."

"He's not jumpy; he's just being cautious. I mean, he was just kidnapped. You'd be a little nervy afterwards, too. As a matter of fact, _you're_ very jumpy for weeks after being grabbed."

"Still, I'd feel better if Batman was in the bar with us or since it's ladies night, maybe Tink."

"We have Burrows. She's badass. I think between the three of us we'll be okay."

"Catwoman is cool and all but she ain't even a Rangewoman. She's like a contract Rangewoman, like she's the Diet Coke version of Tink." She then did a bizarre Jersey version of Doctor Evil's voice, "_Just one calorie, not Tink enough_. You know what I'm sayin'?"

_"__I can hear you, you know."_ Jeanne's voice came over the coms.

"Oops, my bad," Lula said and slapped her hands over her mouth.

"_The real Tink is having issues with her coms, she's cleared the rest room and has gone back to Haywood. She should check in soon. She wants you to send her a picture of whatever Linda is wearing. She wants to try something."_ Another voice said.

_"_Yo this is weird having all these voices in my head. How'd you know who is saying what? All I hear is 'Man.'"

"Well, that was Bobby." I laughed, "Guys, introduce yourselves so Lula hears your weird electronic voices and isn't creeped out by you."

"I'm hurt she didn't recognize me right away," Bobby pouted into the coms.

"Shut up, B. Hey, Lu, Lester here."

"You better know my voice." The third voice growled.

"Hi, Tank," Lula laughed.

"Ram here."

"Hector."

"Vince."

"I'm, you know, the girl," Meagan said. "I'll be in and out."

"And the one you can hear rolling his eyes and smiling would be Ranger," I said.

"Babe."

"Hey you got him to talk! Good job, Beautiful!" Lester laughed.

_"__Enough chatter,"_ Ranger growled as we rolled into the Pino's lot, _"Wait until you get the 'all clear' from Tank before you get out of the cars."_

_"__You're clear,"_ Tank said after a few minutes. We got out of the car and found Linda in a booth that just happened to have a clear view of the door. The booth at the back, two booths away, was also empty and that's where Bobby and Tank took their seats. Linda stood up when she saw us and beamed a friendly smile in our direction and I introduced Jeanne Ellen and Connie to Linda.

"What do you do, Jeanne?" Linda asked pleasantly as we took our seats around the table.

"I'm doing some minor contract work for Rangeman, you know, office stuff." Technically true. Jeanne was guarding Terri and Terri wasn't allowed to leave the building. Usually. So Jeanne was hanging around the office. Just not doing what Linda probably thought she was doing.

"Cool," she replied just as we became distracted by the waitress arriving to take our drink orders. The three of us stuck with white wine, AKA apple juice, while Linda ordered herself a vodka soda. "I'm just so excited to be going out with you girls tonight. I needed to get away from it all for a while."

"I'm just surprised that you chose to call me. I would have thought that you would want to go out with friends from work or something." I took off my jacket and surreptitiously snapped a picture of her outfit and sent it to Meagan.

"No thank you. I love my job, don't get me wrong but the girls I work with don't know how to leave it at work. There's more to life than the gore we see in the ER, you know?"

"Hear, hear!" Connie exclaimed and raised her glass for a toast. I clinked glasses with the rest of them. If my spidey sense were Bob the dog, his ears would have perked up wondering if the sound he heard was worth getting off of the couch over.

"Don't you like being a nurse?" Jeanne Ellen asked, "I was thinking about going back to school and seemed like something worth looking into."

"It's alright. I think my dad is disappointed that I chose to go into nursing."

"Why on earth? My mother would be thrilled if I decided to go into nursing," I said with a laugh.

"He just doesn't approve of my life plan." She toyed with her glass. "He doesn't like my taste in men, doesn't approve of my job or my choice in clothing. Nothing I do is right. He's never happy." Actually Linda's choice in clothing was very similar to mine. Her t-shirt was long-sleeved and baby pink but the jeans were similar and the converse sneakers were in better shape than mine. While casual, it was flattering and quite modest. I couldn't see any fathers objecting to their daughters leaving the house in it.

"What does your daddy want you to do?" Lula asked, "I thought he'd like the nurse thing since he seems the type to like traditional jobs."

She snorted, "Yeah, right! He wanted me to go to business school so I could take over the company my granddad left my mom. I told him it's not my thing."

My Spidey sense was now completely off the sofa and barking like crazy. The real door chimed and Meagan walked in with Joe. Joe had his hand on the small of Meagan's back and they were chatting amiably as he led her towards a table occupied by Carl, Big Dog and Eddie. The bar was pretty full and since there was only one open seat at the table Meagan perched on Big Dog's knee and Joe took the chair. While they waited for a waitress to scrounge up a chair for her she stole a sip of Eddie's beer and one of the fries off of Carl's plate.

They seemed to be chatting companionably and she laughed at something one of the guys said. It was a delighted laugh that carried well through the bar. When her chair appeared a minute later, Joe took it from the waitress and you could see him flirting with the waitress from where we were sitting. She was pretty, in her early twenties with spectacular curly black hair and a pretty blush. We knew this because she was blushing brilliantly at whatever line he'd tossed at her with his wicked grin and those bedroom eyes.

As the flustered girl scurried off with their orders, Joe kicked Carl's chair, he adjusted the seats so Meagan would be sitting in between Big Dog and himself. Then he draped his arm around the back of Tink's chair and she said something that made the table laugh. They were clearly trading jibes but Meagan must have been selectively transmitting because I couldn't hear what they were saying. It looked like she was acting like one of the boys.

"Ugh." Linda said, "She just…"

"They are just friends. Trust us; she's very happily married," Connie said when it looked like Linda was about to blow a gasket.

"_Be warned. Joe and I are going to put on a show. Watch her reaction closely."_

Meagan stood up, took off her leather jacket and revealed a shirt that was shockingly similar to Linda's. Joe blatantly checked out her body as she draped the jacket over the back of the chair. She sat down and he leaned in close to whisper into her earring mike, _"How is Lester's blood pressure right about now?" _

_"__Oh, my blood pressure is fine. I know what's under that top and know that you aren't ever going to see it." _

Linda was pale with anger. She signalled the waitress and ordered us a round of shots. "They look pretty cozy for just friends. What's so perfect about her anyway?"

"You met her once for like five minutes and you met her during the first Rangeman meetin' where she'd be actin' all professional and shit," Lula said. "How do you know she's perfect? She is, and I agree it should get on your nerves, but she's kinda sweetly badass so it don't."

"I have been hearing about Colonel Meagan Harris since I was 17. My dad met her and Ranger on some mission in some jungle somewhere. They brought Daddy out of retirement to help this stupid unit.

She made a call that Daddy thought was questionable and he decided not to follow the order. She's not a pilot so he thought she didn't know what she was talking about. Daddy made a judgment call and everyone got out alive; but he ended up being told to retire again or he would be up for court martial for failing to follow her orders. She was like 20 or something.

Anyways, I thought this would make my dad hate her, but noooo… He was super impressed like she was some kind of perfect specimen of womanhood.

Then he looked her up and basically sat me down and told me how at age 16 she had already amounted to more than I could probably ever hope to achieve unless I started taking life seriously. Now she's married to this gorgeous guy, she's CEO of two massive money making machines, a Colonel, an FBI SSA, drives a hot car and, oh yeah, has every guy at the bar staring at her. I mean I'm wearing the same shirt as she is and I have a good body but guys aren't staring at my breasts like they were crafted by God. She probably bought them. She's rich enough."

"Wow!" Connie injected when Linda paused for breath.

"Yup, Linda needs another shot," Jeanne Ellen said. Linda ignored them; she was on a roll.

"I mean, where does she get her hair done? Like she _has_ to color it it's not a normal color and, okay I'm sorry, but that can't be her real nose either. She's too symmetrical. She's had work done. Good work sure, but work."

My phone buzzed in my pocket, I had an email from Lester and I checked it. It was a picture of Meagan at 6 years old. She obviously didn't have the boobs but the hair, the eyes and the nose were the same just in a ]perfect, cherubic, little face. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but she hasn't had work done. I asked her husband once and he sent me this picture. Meagan is all natural." I showed her the phone.

"I fuckin' hate her." The door chimed again and Julio and Lester entered the bar and made bee line to Tink's table. Lester stood behind Meagan and tugged her hair until she tipped her head way back and he planted a very thorough, if upside-down, kiss on her.

"She's MARRIED! I mean come on! Is everyone so afraid of pissing her off that she can just let a man kiss her like that without being afraid of it getting back to her husband?"

"Uh, that _is_ her husband," Connie stated.

"He might look like her husband but it's not her husband. Her husband is shorter and has brown eyes," Linda replied.

"No." Then I realized the problem and said, "Wait, Linda, you've met Ranger right?"

"No, but I know that's," she waved in Lester's direction, "isn't him."

"She's not married to Ranger," I said. "Her name is Meagan Santos. She's married to his cousin; they've even lived together since she was in her early twenties."

"That can't be right." She furrowed her brow. "He's a junior officer, it's not allowed."

"I dunno about that, but I'm pretty sure they bend rules for Meagan. She made Colonel at 22 so does it really shock you that they'd look the other way when it came to her love life?"

I googled their wedding on my phone and pulled up one of the pool photos of them at the White House that showed the picture of their wedding ceremony in the Oval Office and handed her the article. "Their wedding was front page news. They were in the paper for weeks." Linda took my phone and read the article.

"But Daddy said…" She closed the window on my phone and saw the wallpaper. It was Ranger and I on the beach. "Wait, Ranger is your husband?" She looked at me, "Are you sure?"

I chuckled, "Yeah, very sure."

She grabbed her coat and stood up, "Sorry, but I have to go. I.. I'm just sorry, I have to go. Have a drink on me." She threw some cash down on the table and ran out of the bar.

_"__Well that was interesting." _Meagan said,_ "Someone going to tail her?" _

"_Hector and I are on it,"_ Ranger replied. _"I want Manny and Vince to pick up my position and take over the tail. I need Hector back at Rangeman on his computer. I think I know where we met Beals." _

"All right, fun's over," Meagan said as she approached our table. "Home, ladies. I don't like that she's about to go tell daddy that he was wrong about who I married. I'm afraid of what he's going to do if he is confronted by his daughter with the information he's happily ignored."


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: yay! I can post again! I've had two chapters ready since friday! Provided FF lets me I'll post another chapter tomorrow! Thanks to my Beta Di and to my Husband for making sure this makes sense! Thanks to everyone for the reviews! As always don't own anything, this is just for fun!**

When we pulled into the garage Ranger and Hector were waiting. "Bolivia," Ranger said to Meagan by way of greeting.

"Are you sure?"

"He was our pilot."

"Fuck!" She and Tank said in stereo.

"Given what happened that day no wonder he's developed a fixation," she said.

"Yeah, I was pissed at you two then and I'm still pissed now," Tank said. "He nearly got you and his flight crew killed."

"Uh what happened in Bolivia?" I asked Lester under my breath.

"Dunno. We didn't join the unit until just after Bolivia. I do know they made Colonel off of whatever happened there."

"We should take this out of the parking lot." Tank said, "Tink, can you call Frakes? Get the file."

"Everyone originally working this case meet in the Santos's apartment in twenty minutes," Ranger ordered then added, "Babe, we should talk."

We piled into the elevator and for the first time since I'd first followed the GPS back here, the elevator stopped on every floor on the way up. Those not coming with us upstairs either went to their apartments or the gym, Lester and Meagan left on five and headed for her office presumably to make her call. Bobby and Julio went straight to the apartment on six with Burrows and Lula. Everyone was tense and nobody said anything in the elevator. Call it a guilty conscience but I felt like I was in 8th grade and being called to the principal's office.

"Okay, what did I do?" I asked Ranger as soon as we stepped out of the elevator and into our apartment. "Is this because Julio told me I could go out? Because I figured since he ran half of the offices and this was work and not personal you would be fine with me taking an order from him or is it because Hector told you that Julio's been impersonating you all day? It was funny but I swear I didn't laugh. It was kind of creepy."

"Do you know how to shut up?" I stared at him slack jawed; his Julio was dead on.

"Okay that's just really, really creepy. Don't do that."

"Babe."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I know about Julio and Meagan. I've known for a long time," he said, mouth twitching. "Meagan told me that Julio told you and Hector. It's going to have to come oout, but I just didn't want you to think I'd been blindsided."

"Does Lester know?"

"Yes. He's known since they first hooked up. She didn't want to get in too deep if it was going to freak him out. The one who might be hurt about this is Ella. As far as we know, she doesn't know. She would have adopted Meagan in a heartbeat if she'd asked."

"But why didn't she ask?"

"Because, to put it mildly, Meagan was monumentally fucked up after her parents died. She didn't think anyone would want her. She honestly believed that Ella and Luis were only still there because she was paying them to be. Julio offered to adopt her after the four of us spent the summer together. It was exactly what she needed, someone she knew wanted to look out for her because they wanted to not because they felt they had to."

"The summer the picture of you and her on the step was taken?"

"Yes?"

"Were you ever in love with her?" I asked then assured him, "I trust you and I know nothing is going on now, but.."

"I thought once that maybe I was in love with her. I was 17, just about 18. Everyone in the family introduced us as boyfriend and girlfriend and we just never bothered to correct them. I decided that it was time that they didn't need correcting and Meagan agreed, but we made it as far as her bedroom and then decided it was too weird and it would be a mistake. It wasn't the first time we'd made out, far from it; but it was the last time I ever kissed her beyond a kiss on the cheek or on the top of her head. There is only one person in the world I trust more than I trust her; that's you."

"Okay. Thank you for telling me." I said, "I trust you. The picture Julio and Hector have… It's special and I just wanted to know, if you, you know, wished you had it."

"I do have it. It's in the house."

"You do?"

"It's in the den with about 50 other pictures Julio, Tank and Hector put there because they think I need them. That one, according to Julio, was to remind me that I'd always have family even if mine had washed their hands of me."

"Bolivia?" I asked.

"Patience." His lips tipped up in a half smile; he checked his watch and we took the stairs to six.

Everyone was congregated in the dining room which had morphed into a board room with really good food in it. Lester was walking around the table handing out files stamped 'TOP SECRET' in red which, let's face it, was really cool.

Meanwhile Bobby was reconnecting Meagan to her IV.

"What are you giving me now?" she demanded around a mouthful of cookie.

"Just some shit that will help with the headache you are probably developing again and some other shit that will make it so you are actually able to sleep tonight plus some fluids because you are still dehydrated and even more shit that will help with the anemia."

"Well, thanks for being specific."

"Do you trust me?"

"That's a dumb-assed question and you know it."

"Would it really make a difference if I told you the actual names of the drugs we're pumping into you?"

"No."

"Then shut up and live with it." We all looked at Bobby with surprise. Bobby is the master of laid back, Bobby doesn't know how to do bitchy. Meagan and Lester had identical looks of concern on their faces.

"Who pissed in your cornflakes?" Meagan asked and his shoulders slumped.

"I'm just being a dick because it's been a fucked up day filled with fucked up information and it's just going to get more fucked up when we read whatever the fuck Lester is passing out."

"That was a lot of fucks for one sentence, B. Maybe you need some of whatever the fuck you're pumping into me right now."

"Yeah. It's just that it's all personal. I hate when it's personal." He flopped in to the seat to her left and she kissed his cheek, he responded by giving her a brief one-armed hug. Lester took the seat to her right while Ranger and I took the empty seats across from Meagan and "her boys." Lula was sitting to Bobby's left, Burrows across from her, Julio was sandwiched between Burrows and Hector while Tank occupied the foot of the table. Connie and Terri were sitting next to Lula, Joe came out of the kitchen with a cup of tea for Meagan and a cup of coffee for himself then took a seat at the end of the table opposite Tank and as far away from Terri as he could get.

"So, Bolivia?" Lester asked once Joe was settled.

"Bolivia," Meagan and Ranger answered.

_**Bolivia 8 years earlier**_

Lt. Colonel Manoso jumped out of the chopper and lifted down his much smaller partner, Lt. Colonel Harris.

"Aren't you going to help me down Ranger?" Tank asked.

"I didn't know your panties were bunched so tight, Tank, but if you need a hand..." Ranger extended one arm in a deep bow.

"I got it Ranger." Tink said and held up her arms as if ready to catch him, "He is just a dainty thing after all."

They had been working together for about a year as a threesome under the names, The Pixie, Tank and Ranger. In fact they had, in a very short time, developed a reputation that was damn near mythical. They'd reached the point where a lot people believed that they were Urban Legends. All three were deadly, all three specialists in their own right and all three incredibly young for their ranks. Often promoted before they were even used to their previous ranks, they were the best at what they did and were in Bolivia to do what had given them their reputations. The trio went where nobody else was successful. They got in, got out, achieved their objectives and moved on to the next mission before the dust settled.

Tank tossed Tink's duffle into her outstretched arms and she slung it over her shoulder. Ranger's followed suit and Tank jumped out of the chopper. They made it ten feet from the chopper before a couple obliging PFCs relieved them of their bags.

Relieved of the burden, Tink paused to lace up her boots. She'd taken them off because her feet got hot on the flight. Normally her feet felt like blocks of ice but something about her combat boots always made them sweat. Her partners waited for her patiently while she did this, used to the ritual, and then the three of them made their way to the hastily constructed command tent. Tank held the flap opened for the other two and then followed them inside.

"Glad you could make it here so promptly. You're going to have to move quickly," Vadrine said when they stepped into the tent. As far as greetings from General Vadrine went, that was considered effusive. For the others in the tent, it made them sit up and take notice of the attractive trio. It was considered a good day if Vadrine acknowledged you presence beyond barking orders. These three were clearly special.

"What have we got?" Ranger asked.

"10 DEA agents…"

"I'm sorry, 10?" Meagan asked for clarification, certain she hadn't heard right. She shivered slightly and hugged herself for warmth. Ranger and Tank smirked, only Meagan would be cold this close to the equator. Sure they were in the mountains but it was far from cold.

"Yes, 10," Vadrine confirmed and handed her the windbreaker that he had draped over his chair. "They were working undercover in La Paz when they were taken. They failed to check in six days ago; the DEA has been looking ever since."

"Why so many?" Meagan asked as she shrugged on the jacket.

"Five agents and their handlers. Their security was compromised."

"Who or what were they investigating?"

"This is everything we have." He handed Meagan the folder, "You're going to retrieve them and we don't think you have a lot of time. We received this video two hours ago." Vadrine had a TV on a trolley with a VCR and DVD player.

"Anyone else reminded of grade school right now?" Tank commented as Vadrine popped a tape into the VCR and they waited for the tube TV to cycle through the channels before settling on the one that would show the video.

"Yes," Ranger replied, "but I get the impression that feeling isn't going to last much longer." The video come on and they went quiet as the image of a battered man appeared on screen in black and white. He was bound to a chair, his hands tied to the arms of the chair, he was missing several fingernails. His hair was matted with a cocktail of dirt and blood, one eye was swollen shut, his lip split. He appeared naked, at the very least he was shirtless and the blood from his lip was splattered onto his chest.

"This was the senior agent," Vadrine reported. "The leader of the task force."

They all remained impassive as they watched the man get tortured and then shot in the head. His captors weren't asking questions. They were just hurting him for the sake of it.

"Animals sent a message with the tape," Vadrine said.

"Which was?" Ranger asked him.

"They will kill one a day. When they are finished, they will return the bodies to us." The general replied.

"What do they want?" Tank asked.

"For us to leave them the fuck alone." Meagan said flatly and Vadrine nodded.

"Looks like we're going hunting." Ranger said.

"I know someone in La Paz," Meagan said. "She'll talk."

"Of course, you know someone in La Paz," Tank muttered, "and it's a place you swear you've never been to before."

"I haven't. I just know someone from here. We can read the files on the way there."

Meagan's contact was a drug mule turned stripper who had been deported from the U.S. after a raid on her place of employment. How Meagan knew her was irrelevant; she didn't say and they didn't ask. What was relevant was that the stripper had a pretty good idea who of who snatched the agents and she knew who to pump for more intel.

Tank and Ranger found the man in question, Meagan fucked with his head until he gave her what she needed and then they were off. They found the compound where the agents were located, called in their position and waited. It had taken them six hours from the time they were given the assignment to locate the compound. After about twenty minutes they were given the coordinates of a pick up location and, because Vadrine knew they always liked to have a backup plan, they were given backup coordinates. Tank pulled out a map and showed them where the two RV points were. "I don't like them," Ranger said.

"Nope," Tank agreed. He looked over the map while Meagan kept watch, she glanced down at them out of the corner of her eye. She was in complete agreement with her partners.

"Their security is compromised. I want a back up site of our choosing. We can call it in to Vadrine if we feel we need to." Tank said and began pouring over the map. "There." he jabbed at a location. It was close enough that should they have wounded, they could get them there quickly but far enough away that the chopper could get in undetected. They memorized the coordinates of all three sites and made their way closer to the compound. During their brief surveillance they had chosen the point of entry. Now they just needed a plan.

Their entry point was going to be what seemed to be an unmanned security post. Of course, there was no way to prove this; but of the seven they had seen, this was the only one that seemed both unoccupied and accessed the compound through a steel door appearing to only open from the inside. The problem lay in the fact that there was a 15-foot concrete wall with barbed wire on the top and no way to open the door from the outside.

"Think I could toss you up there, Tink?" Tank teased. Meagan, who had been checking out the wall with a pocket scope, lowered the scope and stared at him for a few seconds as if considering it, then turned back to the wall. She tilted her head, her mind working rapidly considering the possible options. She was too short to just stand on his shoulders and reach. Ranger might be able to but he was too big and didn't have the balance she had to walk along the edge of the wall to a safe jumping point. Not for the first time she wished she was about a foot taller. She glanced at Tank again and grinned. Yeah, that would work if he could do it. She looked at Ranger. If Tank couldn't do it alone, Ranger and Tank most certainly could together.

"Not toss," she said, "remember that circus in Romania?" Tank bit back a laugh.

"You got that kind of balance, Tink?" The idea was insane. He grinned and went back to looking for possible entry points.

"I do, but are you that strong?" she replied soberly. She was serious!? The look on her face was deadly serious and he gave the idea actual consideration. The woman was maybe 100lbs so, yeah, he could do it…Probably. He nodded and she turned to Ranger. "Be ready to catch me, Hermano."

Ranger signalled for silence and they stilled completely. Two men rounded the corner and stopped directly in front of them, deep in conversation. They were less than three feet away and stopped to have a cigarette. The cigarettes were flicked in their direction. Ranger silently caught one just before it hit Meagan's face. She silently removed the one that landed on Tank's back and ground it out. They waited until the patrol was out of sight before they moved again.

They approached the wall silently after making sure they were clear. Ranger stopped, smirking slightly, as he watched to see if his partners could actually pull off the stunt she and Tank had seen at the circus. Tank bent and held his hands in a basket, Meagan stepped into his hands and held perfectly still on one foot as Tank lifted her, He adjusted briefly so that he was grasping her ankle with one hand as he lifted her smoothly over his head giving her the extra height she needed and then some. She reached up and grabbed onto the edge of the wall and hoisted herself up the rest of the way. Once on the ledge she balanced beside the wire until she got to a point where she could lower herself onto a roof and reduce how far she would have to drop.

She dropped and landed in crouch with a soft thud. After making sure she was clear she brazenly walked up to the door of the security station and knocked. She shot the guard who answered in the head with her silenced weapon and caught him, lowering him silently to the ground.

Someone inside the building asked, "Yo, Salazar, who is it?" Tink stepped over the body and took out the speaker as he came into view. There were two others inside the hut. They didn't even have a chance to draw their weapons before she had them down. She went to the control desk and wheeled the one body, still in his chair, out of the way then found the controls and released the locks on the door to let Ranger and Tank in. Within seconds, they met her. Tank stashed the bodies in the closet while Ranger and Tink worked the computers, trying to use the security cameras to locate the agents.

"Got them," Ranger said. Meagan looked to see what camera he had accessed and pulled up the building schematics on her computer to see where exactly the camera was located.

"Of course, they would be as far away from our location as possible," she hissed. A quick scan of the security cameras showed almost a complete, clear straight shot from where they were to the cells.

The compound was too quiet; Ranger and Meagan exchanged a significant look. "I don't like it." Tank voiced their unspoken opinion. He looked at the schematics and pointed out a less obvious route. "It'll take longer but there's more cover this way." They all nodded in agreement.

Either they were exceptionally lucky or there was something terribly wrong with the situation. They didn't come across another patrol on the entire trip through the compound. They weren't going to let on to the DEA agents (who were probably all seriously mentally fucked up by this point) that they were probably strolling brazenly into a trap. Meagan, the least threatening looking of the three, would make entry first, put them at ease and the others would follow.

The door to what was essentially the brig, had a small window and, of course, Meagan was too short to look through the damn thing; but Ranger and Tank were tall enough and they gave her the all clear. She tried the handle and it worked; the door was unlocked. This was such a set up. She sighed, but they would push on. All they could hope was that they would spot the trap before someone sprang it. Things were definitely getting more interesting the longer they went without resistance.

She opened the door and strolled into the room with an air of confidence that she wasn't actually feeling.

"Hello, boys," Meagan said cheerfully. "I hear you've been requesting an upgrade from your current accommodations. How may we be of service?"

"Who are you?" A man with dark hair and eyes asked. She recognized him from his picture in the file but she didn't know the name. She simply refused to learn the names until she saw they were alive. It was easier to remain objective that way. She waved Ranger and Tank into the room and the men in the cell looked alarmed. Ranger went immediately to the cell door and began examining the lock.

"I'm the Pixie, that's Tank and that's Ranger. We're here to spring you." She said brightly and two of the men sagged with relief. "Anything we should know about your current hosts?"

"Yeah, you've got about five minutes before a patrol comes in to harass us" the dark-haired spokesman said.

"Sweet." She looked at the lock Ranger was examining and saw a key pad they could bypass but it would take time. The lock wouldn't be easy either.

One of the men in the back said, "I'm pretty sure the keypad is a dummy. I've never seen them enter a code. They use a card and an actual key." She looked at him. He was one of their fans and he looked like he'd been worked over once already.

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Wicked. Awesome. Fucking Fantastic. How many can we expect?"

"Four."

Meagan looked up at the ceiling. Ranger had the same thought as she did because she'd barely tipped her head back when he had her by the waist and was hoisting her up. She grabbed onto the beams in the ceiling and said, "Hang tight, campers. We'll have you out of here in a jiffy." She then swung herself up into the ceiling. Tank boosted Ranger up then stood behind the door.

Three minutes later the patrol came in. Tank stepped out from behind the door and broke the neck of their lookout as Ranger dropped silently from the ceiling behind two of the three remaining guards. Two quick shots and they were down, the third met his end as Meagan, hanging from the ceiling, used her thighs to mimic the action Tank had used with his hands. Ranger again grabbed her around the waist and lowered her to the floor.

At no point had they signalled each other, they simply worked in a well-practiced rhythm that allowed them to act simultaneously. Meagan went over the bodies until she found the keys and the card and asked, "Do they do it the same way every time or does it matter?"

"Card then key," the injured one said.

"Perfect." She sprung them and did the headcount as they walked out. All nine remaining agents were there and most of them unharmed. The one who noticed the locks had definitely been through the wringer more than once.

"You okay?" She asked him when he leaned up against the cell door to catch his breath.

"Yeah, ma'am. Fine. Glad they sent you guys though."

"What's broken?"

"A couple of ribs, I think," he responded.

"Okay, well, hang in there because we've got a ride coming and it's not far to get to the RV point. There's two choppers so you won't even be crowded."

"Why two?"

"My friends and I are not going back to base. We've got places to be. Come on."

They went back the way they came and twenty minutes after they entered the compound they were out again. They took the DEA agents into the brush and Ranger ordered, "Just hold your position." and waved Meagan to his side.

"How long ago did you decide these guys were bait?" Meagan asked in Ranger Bell.

"When it took us less than a day to find them." Ranger replied in kind.

"It's way too easy. What do you think? Leak?"

"Not one of ours, but yeah. They've got a leak. I think someone knows we're supposed to be in Columbia. Awfully convenient that this happens just after we grabbed Vasquez."

"RV points are compromised then."

"Good thing we always gather our own intel, isn't it?" His lips tipped up and they walked back to the group. "Pixie and I smell an ambush. Go to the site we located and radio the coordinates directly to Vadrine. He'll send the choppers."

"Where are you going?"

"To see if our hunch is correct and see if we can't figure out who the leak at the DEA is. Don't leave without us; we won't be long."

"I don't like it," Tank said.

"Tank, if anything happens to me, all you have to do is clap and say you believe in fairies," Tink quipped before she and Ranger melted into the forest.

They got to the RV point undetected, this time because of skill and not by enemy design. The pickup site was crawling with militia.

Meagan signed, _Now I know why the place was so empty._

_Fight or Live to Fight?_ Ranger asked.

_Live to fight. We've got our guys; there are too many. I count fifteen._

_I agree. Tank will have kittens if we take these assholes on._

They were about to leave when they heard the distinct sounds of a chopper over head. "Son of a bitch," Meagan cursed quietly.

"Oh, Hermana, you can do better than that," Ranger whispered. He loved her creative cursing. They held their position, hoping the chopper pilot hadn't completely disobeyed orders. It would seem their luck was over. The chopper barely touched down when it began taking heavy fire. Ranger and Meagan sprang into action. Moving like ghosts in the forest around the cartel, they took out the men one by one as quickly as they could. By the time each man realized they were in trouble it was already too late. They took them out with single shots to the head, their guns drowned out by the heavy fire coming from the chopper and the militia firing upon it.

The gunfire from the chopper stopped and The Pixie and Ranger picked up the pace until all fifteen of the enemy were down then they sprinted to the chopper. The crew's medic was dead, the co-pilot was shot in the neck but miraculously still alive. Their gunny had taken a round to his femoral artery and he was bleeding out fast. Meagan swung herself up into the chopper and went straight to the Gunnery Sargaent, Ranger went for the co-pilot.

Ranger clamped down on the co-pilot's neck with his hands trying to stop the bleed. He barked at the pilot, "Get us the fuck out of here before their backup gets here! Then radio Tank and let him know they'd better get the fuck out of Dodge."

Meagan peeled off her shirt and tossed it to Ranger who slapped it over the soaked-through bandage on the neck of the co-pilot then she snapped on the remaining glove in the first aid kit.

The medic managed to start a tourniquet before he died and it had slowed but not stopped the bleeding which was why the gunny was still alive. Meagan doused her gloved hand in alcohol and shoved her fingers into the leg to pinch off the artery. The gunny screamed in agony and violently thrashed about trying to escape the pain. He was stronger than Meagan and she needed him to hold still. She nodded toward a headset and Ranger grabbed it quickly tossing it to her before continuing to apply pressure to the neck wound. She put on the headset and adjusted her mike.

"Hey, Gunny what's your name?" She asked him, her voice was laced with a deceptive calm. She was desperate and hoped this worked because she'd only read about this approach, but apparently it worked for childbirth…

"Davidson, Sir."

"It's Tink okay Davidson," she said evenly. "I need you to look at me Davidson, You're going to live but I need you to work with me. You have to hold still."

"It hurts, Sir; I'm trying."

"I know Davidson. What I need you to do is look at my eyes. Focus on them, okay? Can you do that?"

"Yeah, ma'am, they're fucking cool."

"I know they are. What I want you to do is try and find my pupils. They are a lighter black."

"Yes, Sir."

"Anybody waiting at home for you, Davidson?"

"Yeah, my girlfriend. She's going to be pissed I got shot."

"You going to marry her?" Meagan's voice was evenly modulated, she never took her eyes off of his and he began to calm.

"I think so, ma'am. She's a good woman. She's a resident at Princeton Plainsborough and she's really smart. No idea what she sees in me but I'm not going to fight it if she wants to be with me."

"Good man." Tink smiled, "Any brothers and sisters?"

"Yeah. Little brother. He's four. He was a bit of a surprise."

"I'll say." She felt their descent and shifted positions, "We're almost there, Davidson; but I'm not going to be able to let go of you, all right? Not until they tell me I can. I'm going to have to ride with you on the gurney, is that all right?"

"Yeah. You're hot. I hope Cindy doesn't mind."

"She won't and I am going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Shit, ma'am, did I say that out loud?"

"You did but I'll forgive you since you're hypnotized and all," she replied as the doors opened.

"When did you hypnotize me ma'am?"

"not important but I promise not to make you cluck like a chicken." She straddled his legs but kept her weight off of him as they got them onto the stretcher then onto the gurney to rush them to the field hospital.

Later, while washing the blood off she felt Ranger behind her, "What the fuck happened?" she demanded.

"Pilot didn't like the landing site we chose so he decided to stick with the one he'd recommended. He said we weren't pilots and didn't know what we were talking about."

"Idiot! Your guy going to make it?"

"Yeah. He's gonna make it. Said next time he wants you working on him 'cause he liked the cool hypnosis shit. Said I hurt him. How's Davidson?"

"Gonna lose the leg. He'll make it if he doesn't die of the infection I probably gave him by shoving my hand in his leg. No idea if it was the right thing to do, but the direct approach was the only one I could think of." She was quiet for a few minutes, brooding, angry. "Let me ask you this? They were told that this was a rescue mission and the DEA agents were possibly injured, so you want to tell me why there was one, barely stocked first aid kit on board? Didn't like the site we'd located? Really? What the fuck is wrong with him?"

"Arrogant." Ranger said with a shrug, "he's going to be court-martialed."

Meagan looked down at the face cloth she'd been using to scrub the blood off of her arms and very calmly wrapped it around her hand and then in a sudden explosion of movement punched the mirror.

"Feel better?"

"No," she groused.

"Because of the fuck up we have to stay and debrief. We can't testify at the court martial since we aren't even supposed to be here right now. We'll just do a written statement and catch our ride out of here tomorrow at 0530."

"Fine."

"Come on, we both need to work this off. The wall I put my fist through wasn't any more satisfying than your mirror."

A crowd had formed by the time Tank finished getting the remaining DEA agents settled. He elbowed his way to the front to see what they were all looking at. The temperature had dropped considerably after the sun had set; despite this, Ranger was shirtless and Meagan was down to her sports bra and they were both barefoot. Coated in sweat, their breath coming out in puffs of steam under the spotlights, he watched as they sparred against each other.

"Yo, you're Tank, right? Their partner?" He looked down acknowledging the young lieutenant. "They've been going at it for over an hour now and they aren't slowing down. Figured you might be able to step in and break it up."

Meagan's bare foot connected soundly with Ranger's stomach, having braced for the impact he hadn't even stumbled. Unfazed, he grabbed her foot to flip her off balance and onto her back but she simply used the momentum he gave her, to execute a back flip.

"I'm not getting in there. They'd both kill me." Tank said, "You just gotta let them work it off."

They went for another half hour when due to a combination of altitude, being awake for 20 hours and nearly two hours of a cardio death match they both just stopped. Ranger staggered slightly from pure exhaustion and sat down hard. Meagan stumbled over to him and sat down heavily beside him. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. The crowd quickly dispersed, those that had been betting were disappointed because nobody had actually won the fight.

"Well, that was stupid,",Tank said when it was just the three of them, "You're both going to be hurting tomorrow. You think our new medic is going to let either of you out into the field? No. He's gonna make you get some rest and we don't have time for your bullshit."

"New medic?" Meagan yawned, ignoring the scolding.

"Yeah. Lester's partner, Major Robert Brown. While you guys were busy trying to kill each other for sport, I got word that Brown and Santos are joining the unit. Brown will be waiting for us in Columbia. Santos will be joining us after he finishes up some additional training."

"Cool," Meagan said.

"Yeah, fucking cool," Tank growled. "You're useless the both of you." He was talking to himself. Both Meagan and Ranger were asleep, leaning up against each other.

**RSRSRSRSRS**

"We made Colonel because of that mission," Ranger said after everybody in the dining room read the file and they filled in the blanks.

"Yeah, we worked our asses off in Columbia immediately after. The whole thing went tits up because of a different asshole who didn't feel like listening to orders. Tink whooped his ass soundly for it. Don't think she had to worry about people disobeying her orders after that," Tank said.

"Yeah, but she met me so the mission wasn't a total waste," Lester said.

"Yeah, and after his ribs healed we had Manny, too," Meagan said. "Essentially because of our actions, we saved Beals' life and got him kicked out of the military."

"I thought you said he was retired by the time you enlisted?" I asked.

"Where we were working required pilots who knew the area well." Meagan explained, "According to Frakes, Beals had retired and was asked to come back for the job in Columbia and according to Vadrine we were supposed to meet him when we met Bobby. Then we got called in to help out the DEA and his orders changed. He was supposed to pick us up from the RV point and take us back to Columbia. Obviously that didn't happen,"

"They landed in Columbia, hopped out of the chopper and literally hit the ground running. The first time I saw Tink she yelled, 'Brown, get that fine ass in gear. We've got a lead that's going to get cold!' I learned that though she be tiny Tink be fast. I had to haul ass to keep up with her."

"As cool as that story was, Bobby, I got a question," Lula said.

"Why, if we got him kicked out of the military, would he hold us up as an ideal?" Ranger asked for her. "No fucking clue. Meagan, Les?"

"He's a total whack job?" Lester offered.

"Thanks for that assessment," Ranger said, "Hermana?"

"I'm sure when I get his Psych Eval from Vadrine we're going to find out that he's got all kinds of different psychoses. Until then, I think Lester's assessment is completely accurate. He's a complete whack job."

"I'm a little worried about Linda," I said. "She's got a major hate on for Meagan; she has huge jealousy issues when it comes to her."

"Doesn't everybody?" Meagan quipped. "It does seem a little excessive, I agree. I can't really blame her though. If my dad were constantly comparing me to someone else, I would have serious resentment issues, too."

"I think it's more than that. I'm worried about her. Her father is clearly dangerous so what's he going to do when she confronts him?"

"In my opinion, nothing. He won't hurt her," Joe said. "She's daddy's girl all the way. He might be disappointed in her career choices but he dotes on her and he'd never hurt her physically though he might do a number emotionally."

"I agree. He'd never hurt Linda," Lester said. "Family is too important to him."

The rest of the table agreed with Lester and Joe but my Spidey sense was still off the couch and pacing by the door. Something was very, very wrong with her reaction at the bar. I looked at Ranger trying to ESP him.

"We'll put someone on the house. It's the best we can do," he said to me. I tried to relax but it wasn't happening. I was right as it turned out. Seven hours later Meagan and Joe left the building, Joe's Jeep peeled out of the lot like it was trying to be one of Meagan's Lambos. There was another victim, only she was alive and they were going to question her. That's about when shit started to hit the fan.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Two in one week! It's like a bonus chapter almost! It's short but there is a good reason for it's shortness... Thanks to Di and to my hubs for their input! Don't own it. Just playing.**

"I have questions." Joe said from behind the wheel of his Jeep. Meagan was staring vacantly out the passenger side window. Her shoes were off and her feet were up on the dash, ankles crossed.

"Ask away. I can't promise I will be allowed to answer."

"Why was Tank pissed over the rescue of the chopper crew?" Joe asked.

"Because he worries too much." Meagan said with a grin, "It was 15 against two and the crew was no longer fighting back. We had no way of knowing if they were alive or dead. In his mind we took an unnecessary risk that paid off. He's full of shit though. If he'd been with us instead of babysitting, he would have been right there beside us going to rescue that crew."

"Have you called him on it?"

"Many times. Tank's job back then, and now too I guess, was to keep Ranger and I from getting killed in the process of doing something impulsive and stupid." she smiled at some fond memory, "Before Ranger had Tank and I had my first partner, guy by the name of Rex, you'd have dug him, before we had them Planning for Ranger and I consisted of coming up with some vague idea and execute with a bare minimum of prep. Sure some of that bare minimum of prep could require a lot of work, but we are both good at thinking on our feet. We didn't understand the value of a really well thought out plan. Frakes and Vadrine were smart. They put us each with natural strategists. Rex is more easy going than Tank but no less anal about prep. They made us learn the value of being over prepared, so you are prepared for anything. Tank is one of the best strategists I've ever seen. You don't want to play chess against him unless you want to be humiliated."

"Can you beat him?"

"Yeah, but it's not a sure thing." she said and went back to her window.

"What happened to Rex? Would have thought he'd be a Rangeman."

"He got his left leg blown off in Kandahar while I was running a solo mission in Spain. Got the word while I was wrapping up. Spent two weeks in Germany with him and his now ex-wife and then was detailed to the unit with Ranger and Tank."

"What's he doing now?"

"He's a DJ in New York, owns a club Lester and I enjoy." Her grin was positively naughty as she thought about the club.

"It has a lot of dark corners doesn't it?" Joe laughed.

"Sure does." she confirmed.

"My other question?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you find the mole? Is it possible Beals was involved?"

"We didn't find the mole, it wasn't our job. The shit in Columbia was important and time sensitive. We had bigger fish to fry than finding a mole in somebody else's organization. Manny is the one who figured it out. They'd all been working independent undercover ops. Manny said, he and his handler were told to report to a hotel in LaPaz. He showed up and they were drugged by the bartender. Woke up in the cell. The guards took turns using him as a punching bag until the next group showed up. The agent that was killed was Manny's partner. Manny was next. During the debrief it came out that they were all picked up the same way, within a few hours of each other. Manny tracked the orders back through the chain of command and found who was behind it. It turned out that it was the Director's secretary. Vasquez had him over a barrel. Something about a brother, I'm not sure of the particulars but it had nothing to do with Beals."

"Are you sure of that?"

She snorted, "No. You have to understand, I never even looked at Beals on that mission. My focus was on saving the pilot. Then they offered him retirement instead of court marshal and I didn't even have to testify. At the time, if it got out that I was in the area it would have not only blown that op but one we were setting up in Turkey as well. For all I know he could have been involved. As soon as those agents were safe and we were on our way back to Columbia, I put it out of my head. Hell I'm not even sure I got Beals' name. Odds are that Manny is being debriefed by Carlos right now to make sure there is no connection but I'm almost sure that it was a coincidence that he was involved in that mission and nothing more."

Joe parked the Jeep in the lot of St. Francis and turned to Meagan, "What's eating you Princess."

"Something isn't right." She said finally, "I don't like that this is how we know Beals. I swear, if that mission hadn't earned us all promotions it would have been forgettable. We were there for barely a day, and while it wasn't a cakewalk, it wasn't exactly the most exciting mission we'd been on. Until we read the file, a lot of the details were fuzzy. I'm wondering just what else Beals saw that would lead him to believe Ranger and I were a couple? As far as I know, he would have seen us in the chopper and then sparring.

"I met Lester a few weeks later and we were practically glued to each other for weeks after that. No way anyone seeing us back then would think that Lester and I were 'just friends'. We've never been 'just friends' there has never been anything remotely platonic about Lester and I. I mean we bonded over porn. And what about me and Bobby? We've got enough chemistry and have gone under cover as a couple enough times that I could see how he could mistake Bobby and I for a couple; but me and Carlos? I dunno."

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, sort of. Speaks to his motive." she sighed, "It doesn't make sense. I hate when I can't make something make sense.

"Come on Princess. Let's go in there and speak to our victim. She might have the key to your puzzle. Maybe he said something while he was working her over."

Joe and Meagan badged their way past security and were escorted by a nurse back to the Doctor's lounge to wait for the Doctor who was looking after their Victim.

Their victim was a young woman by the name of Clara Harris. According to the file she was petite and blonde like the other victims. In addition to possessing similar hair colour to Meagan's (Clara's came from a bottle), and having the same last name, Miss Harris had a degree in clinical psychology from Harvard. "This is just creepy." Meagan said, "I know why she was picked as a victim."

"Why?"

"In addition to have the same name, College degree and hair colour as me, she and Carlos are exactly the same age and were born in the same hospital."

"Where the fuck is he getting this information?"

"Everyone knows where I went to school. I think it was in every newspaper for weeks. Hell Harvard might have hired a skywriter for all I know. They made a huge deal out of me. The stuff on Carlos though…"

"Trust me. I know. I've looked him up enough times." Joe drawled with a roll of his eyes. Meagan smirked and was on the verge of making some smart assed comment when a small, round ,Santa-like character in a lab coat walked into the break room.

"Special Agents Santos and Morelli correct?" He asked and they both nodded and each grasped his outstretched hand in turn. "I'm Doctor MacAdams. I'm the attending looking after Miss Harris." If it weren't for the seriousness of their visit Meagan might have grinned at the absurdity of a man who was a dead ringer for a Coca Cola Santa Claus, speaking with a very heavy New Jersey accent.

"What can you tell us about her injuries?" Meagan asked him, "And when can we speak to her?"

"She's in rough shape," Doctor MacAdams, said. "She's wasn't violated sexually but I think it was just because he didn't get that far. She's diabetic and she metabolized the drugs faster than he was expecting. She managed to hit him over the head with an old fashioned rotary phone then ran like hell. Don't know how. She's got severe internal bleeding, several broken ribs and a fractured tibia. Unfortunately, she's in surgery so you can't talk to her."

"Did she say anything at all?" Joe asked.

"She was getting into her car when another car pulled up. He injected her with something and drove back to her place where she was beaten savagely. She managed to scratch one of her attackers during the assault and we have sent the skin samples to your lab."

"There was more than one?" Meagan and Joe asked at the same time.

"Yes, she said there were two people in the car. They ambushed her beside her car and one drove her vehicle while the other followed in the other car. They carried her into the house and then one of them started trashing the house while the other beat her."

"Well it would seem Terri's attempted abduction wasn't special after all," Joe said. "Same drugs and same method of attack."

"We've been operating under the assumption that Terri was revenge for what you did to Linda. I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't. Hell I'm starting to question everything."

"It's conceivable that the business Beals was speaking about in the security footage was Terri. We know from the video that he was coming back to Jersey that night. IF he flew himself it would have been tight, but assuming his partner had been tailing Terri all day, it would be doable."

"Doctor, is there any evidence at all that unsub number two assaulted her as well?" Meagan asked, "Anything you can tell us about him at all?"

"According to Miss Harris, no, and if they did, they would have they had to be almost exactly the same size and strength as the first assailant because the wounds were all roughly the same size and from the same angle."

"Is there anything else you can tell us? Anything else she said?"

"There was a duffle bag on the floor. It didn't belong to her. It was one of those free bags you get for joining a gym."

"Did she happen to mention if there was a gym logo on the bag? Or any other type of logo?"

"She didn't recognize the gym, thought it might be one of those boutique type places, not a big chain."

"Did she give you a description of the logo? Joe asked.

"I didn't think to ask. Sorry."

"That's alright. Thanks, Doc. We appreciate you getting the information." Meagan assured him.

"Listen, I'll be honest, she might not make it through the surgery. She's strong and I hope she makes it because there have been too many women in the morgue who fit her description. That is why I questioned her, I knew she wasn't going to stay conscious for very long and I want you to nail the bastard."

"We will, thank you, Doctor. Let us know when she wakes up," Meagan said.

"I will, Agent Santos, Morelli." The doctor excused himself to make his rounds and Morelli and Meagan looked at each other.

"Fuck. Two unsubs?" Meagan said, "We've never profiled for there being two. One organized, the other not. The organized unsub cleans up after the disorganized one maybe? Do they both participate in the assault? We need to look at the crime scenes again."

"You still like Beals for this?"

"Honestly? No, I don't. For stalking Carlos and I? Yeah, he totally fits the profile. For using a team to grab us? Totally. But a partnership? I don't think so. Beals is too much of a narcissist to have a partner. Subordinates, yes, but partner, no. He grabbed Carlos and I because he wanted to prove that he was better than we are."

"But you got away," Joe pointed out.

"Because he let us." Meagan's phone beeped and she looked down at the readout. "They want us in Princeton to execute the search warrant. Beals is at home. I want to question him while you and the team do the search."

"Who knows, maybe you'll work a confession out of him."

"Oh, I'll get a confession, the mystery is what is he going to confess to?"


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Because my kid woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep, I decided to clean up Chapter 13 and post a new extended cut of the chapter. My plan is to finish Thursday, finish this, and then it's entirely possible I'm going to go back and polish both this and Tink. Thank you for reading! Insert usual disclaimers here.**

Anthony Beals at the age of 18 was bored. Bored out of his mind. He was rich;he didn't have to work if he didn't want to. He was good looking, he was popular and school was too easy. In essence he was coasting and he needed something to do. That "something", turned out to be gambling and drinking to excess. As a result his father, a Second World War veteran, marched him off to boot camp and told him that if he ever wanted to inherit he would have to serve in the military for five years.

It was the best thing that could have ever happened to him; he took to the Army like a fish to water and never looked back.

He learned to fly choppers because he liked the challenge and he was good at it. In 1987, on leave at Christmas, he met Margaret Nadel. She was a Vassar graduate and was smart, funny and gorgeous. She took pre-law and was considering law school. In addition she was a lively conversationalist, interested in politics, and exactly the type of girl his parents would approve of. She dazzled them when he introduced her to them and within eight months of meeting each other, they were engaged and six months after that, they were married. Exactly 40 weeks after the day of their wedding, their daughter, Linda, was born.

Linda was part disappointment and part pride and joy from the minute she was born. An ultrasound told them they were having a boy so when she was born a girl, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. That changed when the nurse placed his little girl in his arms. She became the love of his life and not even her mother could compete with her. He spent every second he could with her and utterly doted upon her.

She looked like him, she developed his mannerisms and she was bright. Naturally he assumed she would be just like him. He was in for another disappointment because with his frequent, prolonged absences, she became her mother's accessory. She may have looked just like him but she was her mother's daughter all the way.

This wouldn't have been such a bad thing if Margaret hadn't suddenly become as seemingly empty-headed as all of those women he despised. He had nothing against her wanting to be a stay at home mother. That wasn't the problem, he adored his own mother and she had been a stay at home mother. The major difference between the two of them was that his mother ran the house like it was a well oiled machine and she never feigned a lack of intelligence. Margaret somehow managed to get it into her head that once they were married, he would soon dislike her if she continued to be the vibrant intelligent woman he fell in love with.

A woman who at one time had been adventurous, became xenophobic, unwilling to travel anywhere outside of New York unless she was going to Germany to visit her father. After her father died Margaret could barely be convinced to leave New York for the Hamptons. As much as Beals loved his daughter, he couldn't stand to stay home with his wife anymore. He began requesting as many overseas postings as he could, spending as little time at home as he could.

On Linda's thirteenth birthday he arrived home to find Linda making out with a high school sophomore and lost his temper. Linda, mortified, had fled the room and Margaret, taking her side, informed him that he had over reacted. That was when he realized that if he wanted his daughter to be the woman he hoped she would be, he would have to take a firm hand and play a more active role in parenting. That's when he decided to retire from military service.

Two years, that's how long it took for him to regret his decision. His wife was worse than ever, his daughter hated that she now had a curfew, he felt was reasonable for a girl her age. She hated that when he caught her trying to sneak out of the house, he installed a security system and refused to tell her the code was to disarm it. Instead of growing closer to her and instead of repairing his relationship with his wife, they grew further apart. In short he was miserable.

He missed the order of the Army, the structure, the wanted to come out of retirement. The problem was that he wasn't looking for long deployments. He wanted a job that would make him feel useful. His father in law, understanding his plight had offered his a job within his company but after about a week it was easy to see that it was a token position that meant nothing. The only thing it was good for was getting him out of the house.

The solution he was looking for presented itself at a charity dinner of all places; one of many that his wife dragged him to where he had no idea what they were supposedly supporting. He had slipped outside, not to have a cigarette but to escape the inane conversation, when he was jostled and literally ran into his former commanding officer, Colonel Ralph Jacobson.

"Well if it isn't Captain Tony Beals!" he exclaimed, "Nice to see you son. These things are God Awful aren't they?"

"They most certainly are Sir." He laughed.  
"Can the Sir. We're both retired, it's just Ralph now."

"Habit." Tony laughed, "How are you liking civilian life?"

"I spend most of my time fishing and trading war stories with my former partner. It works well for us. You?"  
"Can't stand it." Tony laughed again, "I'm trying to remember why I got out so early!"

"Will your wife notice if you leave this blasted thing for a bit?" Ralph asked, his face a picture of speculation, "There's someone I'd like for you to meet and he's just as bored as we are. There's a bar down the street that has good scotch. We can talk."

"Sounds good." Tony replied. Ten minutes later he was sitting in a booth with a General Frakes, first name withheld, drinking 40 year old Scotch and talking about something very interesting indeed.

"The unit we are putting together is an experiment," Frakes said, "we're starting with a handful of Rangers that we have hand picked and are grooming specifically for this project. We're scouting for talent. We don't care where we find it either; if it exists, we want to exploit it. We're looking at Special Forces to begin with, the Alphabet Agencies next. We're looking at bootcamps, we're looking at Universities, we only want the best and the brightest."

"What's this unit going to be doing?" Beals asked, his interest piqued.

"What nobody else can. We are looking for people who can do the impossible. We are training two prodigies to lead the unit. One of them already works with one of the best natural strategists I've seen. We're letting them get some experience before we put the three of them together. We've got a pair of snipers we're thinking would be a natural fit as well."

"All Army?"  
"So far." Frakes said, "We're open to other branches of the Special Forces but just Special Forces for now."  
"Are you looking for someone experienced to lead them?" Beals asked, "Because I'd be willing to come out of retirement."  
"No, we aren't worried about leadership." Frakes said with a shake of his head, "What we are short on are good pilots. We need fly anywhere types and those who can go at a moments notice. Go bag at the door kind of thing." His phone rang in his pocket and he picked it up quickly. "Frakes… Fuck… Is there a team ready in Paris?… I want her out of there immediately… I don't care, if she got the intel onto the website and sent the distress signal, why is she still in there? Fucker had to spend the night didn't he?.. I'd extract her from the flat right away is what I'd fucking do… I don't care if he's watching… Fine trust her, she's smarter than we are anyways... She's probably thinking that if this is done right , she might be able to use the alias again… What did she use?" He burst out laughing, "Good for her. Tell her I will be waiting for her in Nice and then get me on a flight ASAP." He flipped his phone closed, "Listen, there's been a bit of an emergency. Whole mission might be blown if we don't extract our operative immediately."

"Are you talking about who I think you are talking about?"

"She's going to be a force of fucking nature. She's solo for the first time."

"And?"

"She just killed someone with her god damned earring."

"Why her earring?"  
"It was handy apparently." Frakes said with a grin as he tossed some cash onto the table, "There is absolutely no fucking way anyone is going to keep that quiet. I believe a legend is being born today gentlemen. By this time next week, there won't be a brach of our Military who hasn't heard of The Pixie."

He walked out of the bar, his phone in hand, punching numbers in as he went.

"If you are interested, I'll give your record to Frakes. Think about it and call me." Ralph handed Beals a card, "I think we should probably get back to that fucking party."

So Beals put his name forward and didn't hear anything. He figured he'd been passed over in favour of younger, active army Pilots, then two years later he got a call. The team was going to be working in Columbia and needed a pilot who knew the area, could fly anything under any conditions. They wanted him. The only condition was that he'd have to pass an interview with the Lt. Colonels who were running the unit. They had very specific requirements they looked for in their men and Frakes gave them final say. He was out the door almost as soon as he hung up the phone. He left without an explanation beyond, "I've been called up." And within 12 hours he was briefed and on a plane to Columbia.

After he arrived Frakes spotted Beals going to stash his duffle and came out to greet him. "Tony, nice to see you. Seems Ranger and The Pixie have done it again. They found Vasquez. This debriefing should be interesting; you want to sit in? All I caught when they dragged him out of the jeep was something about a bar and something about the judicious use of wing sauce."

They heard a delighted female shriek and they both looked in the direction of the very girly noise. A petite blonde vision caught the General's eye and blew him a kiss, "I should bust her for that." Frakes said,"I really should, but she honestly cracks me up. We've got two more joining the unit who are just as bad as she is for fucking around and I should bust them too; but again, the boys make me laugh." Beals had no problem with horsing around; it was good for morale. As long as they were serious when it came to the job, were respectful and worked harder than they played, what did he care if they fucked around occasionally?

The blonde's eyes widened in alarm and she took off in a fast sprint. Beals couldn't exactly blame her either.A mountain of a man came charging out of the tent she'd just exited and went after her at a dead run. He caught her up and threw her over his shoulder saying "Oh, no! I'm not doing your fucking paperwork, Tink. Not going to happen! I don't give a fuck if you outrank me; and if you call me by my idiotic first name again, there are going to be consequences." He carried her back to the tent and set her down with a thump. Waiting for them at the flap was a very attractive, perfectly sculpted Hispanic man with an amused look on his face although he wasn't exactly smiling.

The man said, "You know you only caught her because she let you, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Also I'm fully aware of the fact that the only reason she hasn't stuffed my 'nads in my ears is because she's partial to me."

"PUHLEASE! Do my paperwork this time, Tank?" She begged, "I need to get some exercise or I'm going to be unbearable. Just think, Tank, of all the annoying little things I do when I'm bored…like humming or the way I constantly fuss with my hair, the sighs…."

"Fuck the both of you. Just leave it. I'll do it. Go run, kick each other's asses, do whatever it is you do to make it so she's not fucking annoying," Tank ordered and the other man chuckled.

"She's got you wrapped around her little finger."

"You love me, Tank."

"I feel something for you. Not sure what… but something." He growled and she and the other man of the trio took off at a quick jog.

"Those two," Frakes said as they jogged away, "Are your potential COs. Lt. Colonels Harris and Manoso. Best there is in the Army at the moment, if not ever. Don't be fooled by appearances. Well oiled machines, all three of them. Tank balances the two of them." His own aide jogged up to them.

"Sir, General Vadrine is on the horn. Needs to speak to you about a situation in La Paz. Something to do with the DEA."

Everything happened rather quickly after that. He was told to suit up and that he would be going to Bolivia with them. He'd pick them up from wherever the hell they told him to and bring them back to Columbia. They were on a rescue mission to locate and rescue some missing DEA agents. Beals couldn't believe how fast they found the missing was less than 12 hours when DEA had been searching for a week with no leads.

"That's how they roll," said one of the other officers who worked in their unit, a man whowent by Ram, "Tink knows someone everywhere in the world and that 'someone' always owes her a favor. Ranger is the fucking man; he's a blood hound. She points him in the general direction and he finds whoever they are looking for. Alone, they can find anyone they are looking for; together, well you might as well just turn yourself in. It'll be better for your health if you do. They aren't natural but you get used to it."

Beals pointed out two locations he liked for the pick up and gave his preference. When they got the call from Tank, he looked at the RV point they'd chosen and it was obvious they weren't pilots. It was an extremely difficult location to do a pick up and he wasn't going to land there. He'd radio when he landed and let them know that if they wanted a ride back to Columbia, they better get their asses to his RV point.

His decision had been a mistake-a big one. It had also been a complete revelation. He was amazed that they weren't just indulging that pretty young thing by saying she could kick Tank's ass. He watched as she just as efficiently and ruthlessly killed as many of the enemy as Ranger did and then they didn't even pause as they leapt into the chopper.

Ranger used both of his bare hands to try to stop the bleeding in his co-pilot's neck asthere were no bandages in the med kit. She peeled off her shirt without hesitation and tossed it to Ranger who had barked orders while saving the life of his co-pilot. She motioned for a headset and Ranger removed one hand to toss it to her before clamping firmly down on the neck wound again. Then she fucking hypnotized the Gunny! How the fuck did she do that?

Beals almost puked when he saw that her hand was inside the kid's leg and she was flirting with the young soldier.

It just got better though-the sparring was a thing to behold. Everyone, even Tank, was afraid to step in and put a stop to it. The two just kept going; they didn't even slow down. Much later, he'd heard music and followed the sound of it. It was the Moonlight Sonata and he found her alone in the mess, and she was dancing. Ballet. The song was on a loop; she was wearing a pair of tiny shorts, a tank top and a pair of pink ballet slippers.

The Pixie looked tired but her dancing was beautiful. He stood watching her for what felt like forever, entranced by her grace, marvelling at the talent that could easily rival anything he'd seen onstage. When the song ended for the umpteenth timehe heard clapping and a slow smile graced her lips as she turned her head towards the sound. "Hey, Carlos."

"I hate that song, Querida." He walked up behind her and wrapped her in his arms. She snuggled back against him looking content. "It's too sad for you."

"It's my favorite. My dad used to play it for me all the time."

"I still like it when you dance to rap music. You look like you're having more fun."

She chuckled softly and turned in his arms and returned the hug, "I love you, Carlos. I needed that. Thanks."

"I love you, too, Meagan anytime," he said softly. They left the mess, arm in arm, her head leaning up against his bicep.

That was the relationship Beals had wanted with Margaret-fierce, funny, feminine, completely capable of taking care of herself and everyone around her, good in a crisis, never backed down, and yet still capable of letting a man take care of her if she needed it. Not afraid of her femininity undermining anything else. Not only that but this woman had confidence in spades and that's what he wanted for Linda. That's what she needed to be like.

When he got home, he told Linda about the extremely young Lt. Colonel he'd met. She didn't really seem to care and it pissed him off. The Pixie should have been Linda's idol; shewas the perfect role model but Linda blew him off. In an attempt to inspire his useless daughter, he decided to researchLt. Colonel Meagan Harris. The woman was incredible. ; She graduated from Harvard at just 16 and from an article written about her in the student newspaper it looked like she could have done anything she wanted with her seemingly endless talent. Yet incredibly, when she was offered jobs with all of the major ballet companies at just 16, she turned them down in order to pursue her education. She earned her first doctorate two years later when she was 18.

On top of the academic and dance accolades she was also still listed as CEO of a major shipping firm. MacDunnaugh International (MDI for short) was huge. She'd been working at her daddy's side since she was five, learning the ropes when she wasn't in school, being groomed for the position. There were pictures of her on the society pages in the newspaper archives as far back as the late 80's serving as her father's escort to parties. Some were as recent as three months before, attending charity events in DC or in New York at an annual shareholders meeting. Tony collected all of these articles. She had become his obsession.

She didn't seem to actually live anywhere, which was weird given her extreme wealth and his major focus became solving that mystery.. Her childhood home was turned into a boarding school and her apartment in Boston was occupied by a Hispanic woman and her daughter, a girl maybe a year or so younger than his own 17-year-old daughter. The apartment was leased in Meagan's name but she had been subletting it to this woman since Meagan was 18. There was no record of Meagan owning an apartment in New York anymore either. It was like she didn't expect to come home from her missions and didn't want to have possessions.

He pulled every magazine and newspaper article he could find on her; and watched countless hours of news footage that had to do with the Army Rangers looking for anything that might have a glimpse of her It took him months to sift through the articles about her, making copies of everything as he found and putting it into a file to be read and re-read at home.

If there was known public record of her, he had it. Unfortunately, most of it was tripe…useless society page BS. Meagan seen at some gallery opening or fashion event with her mother or as her father's escort to some charity event or theatre opening. Those articles were clipped and put in a scrap book in chronological order.

Almost a year into reading through what he had accumulated he noticed something he hadn't before in a New York Times article he had read a hundred times. It was written shortly after her parents' death when the fate of Meagan Harris was front page news for weeks as the courts decided whether or not to cede to her parents wishes. Once the decision was made she was hounded by the press until she finally disappeared off the radar and they lost interest.

Rumor was that she was staying with her housekeeper, but that proved to be unfounded. Other rumors had her living at the Waldorf, but that institution would neither confirm nor deny her residency. He'd read all of these articles several times. He knew her parents' deaths had been a turning point in her life. He knew it was the key to everything buthow exactly, he wasn't sure. It was on his fifteenth read through the Times article that he noticed some curious wording by her reps.

"The landmark case concerning the heiress to the MacDunnaugh fortune, Meagan Emily Harris, has been settled. Meagan tragically lost her parents just six months ago to a drunk driver while on their way to pick up Miss Harris from a dance competition here in New York. Having no living relatives, the child prodigy is already a high school senior on track to graduate in December, Miss Harris is seeking emancipation at the request of her now deceased parents as outlined in their Last Will and Testament. The decision was made in a closed session this morning andMiss Harris was closed-lipped about the for the girl told us the courts "Came to the ruling we were looking for. Miss Harris is thrilled with the results."

"The question is, as sole heiress to such a large fortune, what does Miss Harris plan on doing with it now that it's under her complete control? She's on track to start university in September. She'll be attending her father's alma mater and taking business at Harvard University.

The article had one mistake in it that he knew of- Meagan did not have a degree in business. Her PhD was in Psychology. That wasn't what caught his attention though; her reps didn't definitively state that she'd been emancipated just that the courts had reached the decision she was looking for and the Times, as well as every other media outlet that covered the story, assumed she had been emancipated. What if that wasn't what she wanted? Her reps hadn't said anything about the courts abiding by her parents' last wishes, just that the girl had been thrilled by the ruling.

The picture accompanying the article had been republished several times in several papers and magazines. Her blonde hair was left long, she was wearing a pinstripe Chanel pantsuit and although she was 12 years of age, she didn't look like a little girl playing dress up. The suit fit her like it was made for her and it was entirely possible that it had been. What was arresting about the picture was the way her huge black eyes seemed to look through you. The look was one of profound sadness and relief and she was grasping onto a hand like it was a lifeline. As the picture was cropped to just show her, Tony had assumed the hand belonged to Ranger (he'd learned from Frakes during that ill fated mission that they had been friends since childhood) but he realized then that while whoever she was holding hands with wasn't Caucasian,the skin was too light to be Ranger. What he needed was to see the whole picture. If he remembered correctly, a Time Magazine article about her father's company had one.

He went through his stacks of research and found the article. It was a profile about CEOs of influential businesses. Naturally, MacDunnaugh was one of these businesses and they attempted to profile Meagan. With her rarely in the country, the article focused on her youth and her limited participation within the company. Besides learning that she kept herself up to date with MDI while she served and that the CEO title she held was honorary while someone filled in as interim for her, what interested him were the pictures. Specifically her on the courthouse steps. He was correct; the article did have a slightly grainy version of the picture. She was holding hands with a young man who, at the time, would have been too old to be Ranger. His features were difficult to make out but the resemblance was there. The caption on the photo said she was seen on the steps of the courthouse with a family friend after the ruling.

A few phone calls to the magazine and a few pulled strings later and he had a copy of the picture in his email. The email said, "Meagan Emily Harris with close family friend and then med student Julio Santos. He's currently living in Miami working as a trauma surgeon. Miss Harris is serving in the military, her whereabouts and rank are classified."

The young man's face was just as arresting as hers and it was a wonder that he had been cropped in the first place. Yes, he was unknown but had anyone bothered to look at the picture they would have asked who he was. The look on his face was one of determination, fear and love. His stance protective of the young girl clinging to him. Anyone who looked at this picture would know that Meagan Harris was no mere friend to Julio Santos, but how was she connected to him? That was the question. While an investigation into Meagan was revealing much about her past and almost nothing about her present, he had a feeling, given the man's strong resemblance to Ranger and the way Meagan clearly sought his protection, that Julio Santos might just be the breakthrough he was looking for. Especially since finding information about a trauma surgeon was going to be much simpler than finding intel on two black ops colonels.

Julio Santos had been an NYU student who transferred to Harvard part way through his first year of med school. Born in Miami, he had suspected gang affiliations with the Princes, the same gang that Ranger had belonged to, but no arrests. He was smoothed-tongued and apparently able to talk himself out of any trouble.

Notoriously promiscuous, he had suddenly settled down for several years while attending med school. A simple internet search showed that he was a newlywed living in Miami with his wife. Their wedding picture was in the paper and while his address was unlisted, the hospital he worked for wasn't. It was a simple matter to follow the young doctor home from the hospital one night. A few months of watching the house showed that Dr. Santos was rarely home, often working double shifts or sleeping at the hospital. The wife seemed to do little else beyond shop and work in the gardens of their Coral Gables home. They rarely entertained, though Mrs. Santos went out often, dressed to kill. After watching the home for months always waiting and hoping that Meagan would show up at the house, he decided to take a more aggressive approach-it was time to approach the Santoses.

He wore his uniform for the visit as he thought it would lend an air of authority for him. Mrs. Santos, a very pretty young woman in her mid twenties opened the door. She had wild red hair, brilliant green eyes and a phenomenal number of freckles and she would have been very attractive except that she was scowling.

"Christ, which one is dead?"

"I'm sorry?" He asked with surprise. For someone so sweet looking she certainly sounded cold.

"My husband is listed as next of kin for Meagan, Lester, Bobby, Tank and Ric. Which one bit it?"

"As far as I know, none of them, ma'am. I'm merely here wondering if Lt. Colonel Harris was visiting."

"Well, first of all, it's Colonel now. Second, she never comes here because she and I don't get along. Julio goes to her. He can always fucking find a few hours for her but not me. No, not his fucking wife. Finally, she and her boyfriend don't spend much time in Miami when they have leave. They have some secret hideaway they go to."

"Damn. I was on a mission with her a few years ago and I was hoping to reconnect. I don't suppose you have an address for her, do you? One where I might drop her a letter?"

She snorted disdainfully, "Yeah, sure. I'm also in close personal contact with the Easter Bunny. Listen, even if I did know where she lived, I wouldn't be stupid enough to give out her address just because some guy I've never met shows up at my door in an army uniform. Nice try, though, Captain. Visit my husband at the hospital; he knows how to contact her. If she wants to see you, then he will give out the information." With that, she slammed the door in his face.

So he went to the hospital to speak with the young doctor. He showed up, again in uniform, asking to speak to Dr. Santos. The nurse gasped, "Oh shit, which one?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Which one died?" she asked, "He'll be devastated no matter what you say. Just a minute. I'll clear the breakroom so you can speak to him privately. Oh shit! Oh no…" she looked like she was about to cry herself so he stopped her immediately.

"No, that's not necessary. I'm just looking for an old friend and he's listed as next of kin." The woman deflated with relief.

"OH! That's great! They are all great, a handful when all in the same room of course, but Julio is like a big brother to all of them. Well, he is a big brother to Lester, and they all just love Julio."

"So, they do come and visit then?"

"Oh, whenever they have leave." She smiled helpfully, "Just a second; he's not in surgery; I'll page him."

The young doctor came down the hall and paled slightly when he saw the uniform. The uniform was a bad idea. "Oh, it's okay Doctor Santos, he's just trying to find one of them. Meagan or Ric would be my guess," the nurse said.

He relaxed and smiled a blinding smile. "Hello, Julio Santos." He held out his hand and Beals took it in a firm handshake, "Which one are you looking for?"

"Colonel Harris."

"Ah yes. Sorry I can't tell you where she is. I can pass a message on if you'd like?"

"Oh no, that's okay, she just saved my life and disappeared before I could thank her."

"Yeah, they're like that;kind of like superman that way, but that's their job. I can tell her you dropped by."

"No, that's all right. If I may, Doc, you don't seem surprised to see me."

"Not hard to track down someone's next of kin, is it? That and it happens once every few months, though you're the first to come in Class A's."

There was a sudden flurry of activity and a nurse ran by. "Probably gonna call you, Doc; we got some kids on their way in with multiple GSWs." Julio waved at Beals and took off after the nurse. Afterward Beals left the hospital, feeling triumphant.

He knew she lived in Miami now and she had a secret hideaway that she went to with Ranger. So where was that? He knew Santos knew and he probably had it written down somewhere at home. It would be stupid of Beals to search the house the same day as he tried to get information on her from the Santoses so he decided to be patient. He waited three months and put those three months to good use. He moved his family to Miami since he wanted his family to meet the young colonels; and he couldn't arrange for that to happen if they were rarely in New York or New Jersey as he had first suspected.

He knew that if Linda saw people around her age who were so driven that it would have a positive influence on her. She would see that intelligence and coolness weren't mutually exclusive. That she could be driven and feminine at the same time.

The night he broke into the Santos home he knew they were going out. He'd been watching them for several months and knew their schedule probably better than they did. He'd heard Mrs. Santos remind Julio that they had a dinner party at her parents' house that night and that he shouldn't be late again. Beals was grateful he wasn't going to be at that dinner party. Before they left, they were having a massive argument or rather, she was screaming at Dr. Santos and he was ignoring her. The town car pulled up in front of their home and when the front door opened andJulio and his wife, Kathleen, walked out of the house together, neither of them looking very happy. Julio opened the car door for his wife and took her arm to help her in.

"What the fuck are you doing?" She snapped, yanking her arm away from him.

"Making sure you didn't snap a heel on the sidewalk, Darling; Lord knows I paid enough for them," he said with a charming smile that didn't reach sad and angry eyes. He slammed the door with more force than was necessary and then tapped on the roof of the car to signal that it was time to leave. The car pulled down the street and he grinned as he walked in the opposite direction. The town car slammed on the breaks and she jumped out of the car and screamed his name down the street. He flipped her off over his shoulder and hailed a cab. Because she was running in those expensive heels she didn't catch him and his cab took off before the door was completely closed.

She stomped her foot and screamed in frustration then went back into the house and came out wearing different shoes. She was carrying the ones she had been wearing earlier. Wearing a vindictive smile and looking in the direction of her husband's cab, she deliberately snapped the heel off of each shoe then dropped them on the front step. She stomped to the town car and, once inside, it drove off.

He broke in easily enough. Mrs. Santos hadn't locked the door behind her when she left; it hadn't even fully latched. A simple shove had been enough to get inside. The house was very tidy and looked like something out of Better Homes and Gardens. Every bit of the place decorated to within an inch of it's life, all except for the study.

The home office held a beat up desk that had seen slightly better days. It was clean but felt lived in. The furniture was comfortable and not perfect; the books on the shelves well-thumbed; a blanket, sheets and pillow were in the closet; and on the shelf there was a change of clothes, pajama pants and a shaving kit. The room held the hallmarks of an unhappy marriage. Dr. Santos spent a lot of time kicked out of his bedroom.

The desk, well, the desk was a revelation. Julio Santos was clearly a fan of pictures and they were everywhere. Ranger and another kid who looked just like him were the subjects of several of them. One in a place of prominence was the three of them fishing. The younger boys were probably four years old in the picture and clearly looked up to the 9 or 10-year-old Julio fishing with them. There were other pictures of Julio and the two smaller boys and then there were many pictures of Julio, Ranger, Meagan and another young man. The other young man had tattoos everywhere-gang tats from the looks of them. A girl with Meagan's background should have been terrified of him, but it was obvious in the pictures that was nowhere near the case. His favourite of Meagan and the tattooed boy was one of them sharing a blanket on the sofa that was currently in the study. Each of their heads were resting on opposite arms of the sofa, their knees bent and legs tangled together. She was reading a textbook with the titled "Intro to Neuropsychology" and he was engrossed in a book of Advanced Calculus. They looked comfortable together. Looking at the back of the photo which said, "Hector and Meagan in their pad, ages 16 and 13," He wondered 'Hector who?'

But the picture that caught his attention and wouldn't let go was of Ranger and Meagan. They were so very young; the expressions on their faces far too old for them. They looked so right together. It was a beautiful picture. He liked how it looked like they were drawing strength from one another. Her little hand in his seemed as supportive as the shoulder she was leaning on. Beals took the picture out of the frame and set it down. There was a scanner/copier on the desk so he'd make a copy before he left. His intention was that nobody would know he was in the house. He wanted to be able to come back.

There were more pictures on the window ledge. He could see from where he was standing that they were more recent, lots of desert camo, but he was meticulous, He would finish with the desk and file cabinet first and then make his way to the window. He opened the unlocked filing cabinet and found an entire drawer dedicated to the people who graced the pictures in Dr. Santos' office.

-Brown, Robert  
-Harris, Meagan  
-Hector  
-Manoso, Carlos  
-Santos, Lester  
-Tank

He removed all of he files. Robert Brown, Sniper, Medic, Army Ranger… blah blah blah.

Hector's file was thicker than Brown's and he set it aside for later. He set aside Meagan's and Ranger's as well,

Santos, Lester

Address:

Mom and Dad's: Bay Harbour Islands… the bum needs his own place.

Phone: Again, doesn't have his own phone, call mom.

Medical information:

Disgustingly healthy. It's not right. Kid needs flaws.

Height: 6'4"  
Weight: 200 lbs give or take  
Eye color: Green  
Hair: Black  
Tattoos: One, Ranger Sniper Tat, v. cool, located on the back of his left shoulder.

Rank: Lt. Colonel, Army Rangers. Sniper, ranked top ten. Mom would be both proud and horrified if she knew.

The rest of the file contained his college transcript. It would seem that Miss Harris did not surround herself with dummies. 3.9 GPA and a degree in Psychology. He played the guitar, sang, had played Varsity Baseball and ran marathons. Spoke French, English and Spanish. He would stand out in any crowd on his own. It wasn't just the family connection that landed him in the unit with Meagan and Ranger; he'd have been put in the unit without it. Beals set the file aside and reached for the next one.

Tank AKA If I wrote it down anywhere the man would turn me into a smear on the pavement.

Address:

I swear to God Mom and Dad's. Sold his house, put his shit in storage, all his mail goes to mom. Get your own family dude.

Overall health:

Disgustingly healthy

Height: 6'8"  
Weight: 300 lbs of muscle. The threat of becoming a smear for using his name is not Empty. He could do it.

Eye color: Brown  
Hair: What hair?  
Tattoos: nope

Rank: Master Sergeant, Army Rangers

Tank spoke French, Spanish and English and had a Business degree from Louisiana State. Went to school ROTC. Had family in Atlanta. There were more pages in the file. Contact information for his family, his transcripts etc.

Beals grabbed Meagan's file and held his breath. He didn't know what to expect. He was concerned that she would somehow fall short of his expectations. She didn't.

Name: Meagan Emily Harris

Address: Well mom would cry if it wasn't at her place so we'll give them that. Officially, she doesn't have one. She's house hunting. The day they actually choose a place is the day I dye my hair blonde.

Height: 5'0"  
Weight: It had better be 115lbs but probably in the 100lbs range if they are someplace hot.  
Eye color: Freaky assed black  
Hair: White Blonde  
Tattoos: Yes. And she won't tell me what or where.

Rank: Colonel. Couldn't be prouder. Army Ranger, Sniper top 20, PSYOPS Specialist, and a whole list of classified shit I'm not allowed to know about but I suspect is very cool.

Languages: English, Spanish, Latin, German, Russian, French, Italian, ASL, Dutch, Greek, several I don't even know the names of, Finnish, Arabic, Punjabi, Korean, Vietnamese, Tamil, Urdu, Persian, Polish… ahh fuck it. By the time I complete the list, she'll have learned ten more. Put it this way, if it's a spoken language, she probably speaks it. Fluently.

PhD Psychology her second PhD is classified. But I'm still very proud.

Overall Health:

Fair. Prone to anemia. Otherwise as disgustingly healthy as the rest provided she manages to not forget important things like eating. Still has trouble with her wrist even though she tries to hide it.

The folder held awards out the wazzoo. Dance, academic, martial arts, she was a heavily decorated military officer, but deep in the stack of accolades he found what he had been looking for. Adoption papers.

Julio Santos wasn't just her next of kin, as Beals suspected, he was her adoptive father. He felt the wind go out of him and he sat down heavily in the office chair. The rest of the file held all of the correspondence regarding the adoption process. She rejected emancipation. Why she chose an 19 year-old-boy as her father, he couldn't guess, but he knew the reason would be in the legal correspondence and he wanted to read it but there was just too much so he'd make copies of it all and read it at home.

He continued his search of the desk. There was a light flashing on Santos' answering machine that was begging to be pressed and he hit it. The message on the machine was from her. He'd never forget that slightly husky, musical speaking voice.

Hey, Dad, it's me. I'm alive. So's everyone else. Just didn't want you and Hec to worry. Obviously I'm alone right now 'cause I called you 'dad'. I wanted to make the call without the others around because you should know the last mission fucked with Les's head a bit. I'm on it but he might need his big brother. We should be getting leave soon. We all need it. We'll be at your mom's house. Oh, and I think we've found a condo. Would you please go and look at it? It's in Coconut Grove. Our agent is going to email you the details. Please buy it if you think it's right. We like the pictures, we agree on it, and it ticks absolutely every box on our list. Unbelievable, but true.

Please, please, please look at it soon. Okay, love ya. Not doing anything especially dangerous for the next month or so. No stress.

—-Beep—

Sorry got cut off. Les says "Hi."

—-Beep—

Primo, we're alive. We all need leave. Les is deep in his head, Meagan is on it. Between her and Bobby he should be almost normal before we inflict him on your parents. Oh, and the condo? Just buy it. If it sucks, I'm sure she'll sell it. I do NOT want to deal with her if she loses out on it.

-—Beep—

Hermano, we're alive. I am NOT in my head. Things just got a little fucked up and I thought my ticket was punched. Not even close. Forgot for a minute that I'm the shit but then I remembered and I turned out fine. Not a scratch. Where the fuck are you? Hospital said you had the night off. Don't tell me you are actually doing something, or dare I hope someone, fun?! Please tell me you've ended it with the queen bitch? She's not good for you, man. Anyways, gotta run. Oh, and the condo? Ric's right. Just buy the damn thing.

—Beep—

Yo, it's Tank. DO NOT just buy a $4 million dollar condo to shut her up. If you don't have time to see it, I know a guy who will look at it first. I will NOT let her buy something sight unseen. She'll be unbearable for weeks if she loses out, so act fast. Contact Vadrine if you need me to call my guy. Do not go all…them…on me… you're my fellow voice of reason…I can't believe I just said that. And Les IS in his head.

—Beep—

It's Bobby. We're alive, obviously, as I think I am the last to check in. Let my parents know. I may or may not visit them when we're stateside. Okay, so Les is in his head, Ric has a sprained wrist, Meagan is a bit sunburned but otherwise her chemistry is as normal as it gets. Tank got bit in the ass by some mystery insect and it's infected. He's currently sitting on a donut the size of an inner tube and we're teasing him pretty hard over it. And, I agree with Tank; don't by the condo without looking at it. I'll sedate her or something if I have to.

The machine clicked but the light kept flashing like the messages were new. Odd. He wondered just how old the messages were then. Beals was about to see if Santos left his computer as unsecured as the rest of everything in the office when he heard a voice coming from the front hallway and he froze.

"I'm telling you she just bought those shoes this morning. She modelled them for me and she can't have snapped both heels unless she did it on purpose…probably to piss Julio off. She should know that the only person who can get under his skin like that is his brother."

There was silence and no response. Whoever was speaking was talking on a cell phone, "Oh, she leaves the security system off to piss him off, too. It would serve the bitch right if someone did break in."

More silence then "No, it's all her. She knew what she was getting when she married him. He's always said he wanted to be a trauma surgeon. I mean, look at his family. He'd want to know all about the types of injuries they accumulate." She paused again and her voice changed, "That's weird. Listen, I gotta go. I think she went through his office again. No, she's allowed in there. She just doesn't go in there unless she's pissed at him. She deletes his voicemails from them just to stress him out. They all check in. No seriously, she'll keep the messages to herself for days if she's feeling hateful just to see him sweat…yeah, I'll talk to you later."

When he heard approaching footsteps, he sprang into action. Beals jumped out of the chair, knocking some papers to the floor in the process, and hid behind the door. "Oh, what the hell? She taking his pictures from him now? Bitch has got to go. Which one was it?" She stopped, "Why's she got these out." She started to collect the papers that were scattered on the desk and stopped herself. "No, if she's touching these, she's looking for something. I'm going to call him first." She reached for the phone and Beals reacted. He grabbed one of the golf clubs from the bag near the door while her back was turned and, after a slight hesitation, he hit her over the head with it.

The first blow was oddly satisfying. The second and third were a rush. It wasn't until the fifth hit that he realized what he was doing and he dropped the golf club. He trashed the office after that. He had to make it look like a break-in gone wrong.

He emptied the filing cabinet and tossed the papers everywhere. He grabbed the photo he'd removed from the frame as well as the top sheet from Ranger's file and shoved them into his pocket. Then he went through the house destroying things along the way and found the master bedroom. He found some cash and the jewelry box and shoved the money and the jewelry into his pocket and took off.

By the time he got back to his house he was shaking from the adrenaline, but felt extremely exhilarated. He now knew why they did what they did. It wasn't the first time he had taken a life but it was the most personal. Machine gun fire from a distance was easy as the body that fell was almost faceless. But this, this had been up close. She had tried to get up after the first blow and the second; but he'd put her down and it just felt so fucking good!

He had to join their team. He had to do what they did. He knew that they were forgiving of mistakes. They would be hypocrites if they weren't. He just needed to prove to them that he was as good as they were. Better even. He just had to find them to convince them of that.

Beals sat on the bed and sorted through the jewelry. It was no surprise that most of it was high quality. He couldn't sell it or throw it out. If he threw it out and someone found it, then the police would look more closely at the paperwork in the office to see what was missing and then probably alert Ranger.

If he pawned it he might get caught. The solution was easy, he had a wife and daughter so he had Christmas, birthdays and random special occasions covered for the next two years. He got up and took it all into the bathroom and tossed it into the sink with some warm water and some hand soap. He used a toothbrush to scrub the pieces and then set them out to dry on a towel on the counter.

Next, he drew himself a bath. He was covered in blood. Tomorrow he'd have to get rid of the clothes at the office since there was an incinerator he could dump them into that would neatly dispose of the evidence. Once the tub was full he lowered himself into the bath with the paper from Ranger's file. An address would be listed there and there was. One in Trenton. But he didn't get that far because a combination of the heat and the let down from the adrenaline put him to sleep and he dropped the sheet into the water before he read through the first few words on the page. When he woke with a start several minutes later, the ink had run on the paper so badly that he couldn't make anything out on it anymore. He tossed the soggy mess into the toilet and flushed it then scrubbed off any evidence from the break in from his body. He crammed his clothes into the bag from the trash can and went to bed, pissed that he hadn't been able to read about Ranger.

He hunted them for years. He found the condo complex in Coconut Grove and even saw her go into it once with a giant dog. Doctor Santos had moved out of the Coral Gables home shortly after the break-in and lived in the condo while she was away. His divorce had been filed not long after the break-in as well. The housekeeper had survived against all odds—an outcome that infuriated Beals for weeks. Fortunately, she couldn't remember anything and she hadn't seen his face.

He never saw Ranger go into the building once. He saw Lester go in as well as Brown, each of them taking a turn with the giant dog; but never Ranger. He found it strange. He did see them out together though. She went out with her boys a lot. Dancing. Lester and Julio had a flare for ballroom dancing and they partnered her the most. She and Lester had done a tango so hot he was sure Ranger was going to be furious and yet Ranger just looked on, amused by their antics. When the dance had finished, she had dropped into the booth beside him at the restaurant and he said, "People were staring. That skirt is almost indecently short."

"Almost." She'd replied cheekily, "But not quite."

"Too bad," Ranger smirked.

"HEY!" Lester shouted, "Enough of that!" Everyone at the table laughed. That night she'd been the only girl present, but she wasn't always. Sometimes the others had dates, but there were few repeats and he always lost them when they got into cabs to go home. He was sure that was by design. Not because they thought he was following them, but because they were paranoid and were trying to stop anyone else from following them. Indeed had he not heard the messages in Julio's office he never would have figured out where they lived. He never saw them ship out either. One day they would be coming and going from the condo with regularity and the next Julio would again be walking the giant dog alone. Months would go by and he wouldn't see them at the condo or at the Santos home. Then one day Lester would be out running at his parents home or Meagan would be seen walking the dog.

Then it all fell apart. She was killed. They all took it hard. Everyone stopped showing up at the Miami condo. They all disappeared off of the map after her funeral. Lester and Ranger stopped going to the Santos home, only Julio showed up. Ranger rarely went to Miami at least as far as Beals was aware. He lost the trail. Ranger, he knew, ended up in New Jersey because of the incident with his daughter where he had almost been killed by a wannabe. An amateur. That's when Beals found out that the unit had more or less been disbanded, that joining wasn't an option anymore. Ranger was a bounty hunter now of all things. Tony couldn't have been more pissed. She was the glue that held them together and they had let her get killed.

Then Beals began to believe in miracles when Christmas, a year ago, a picture showed up on the news. Meagan and Lester were dancing and Lester had Meagan in a low dip. She was dressed in some Christmassy affair that looked like it should have been from some old musical. The picture was as hot as the tango had been.

The newscaster made a mistake saying the picture had come from a double wedding reception and that Lester was dancing with his new wife. Given the way Meagan and Lester danced together, it wasn't hard to see why they would mistake Lester for her groom. The piece had gone on to talk about the young colonel and her miraculous recovery from several gun shot wounds obtained while working undercover for the FBI. They mentioned that she had left the FBI and was now part owner of Rangeman Securities with Carlos Manoso.

That's what brought the Beals family to New Jersey. The day he'd called for the consultation at the houses, he'd been hoping to see them together. He wanted to see if their connection was still strong. He'd been disappointed when they'd split up. What pissed him off more was that she didn't recognize him. Not even a flicker of recognition. Not that he could blame her really. He'd been wearing aviator sunglasses and a helmet with a micthat obscured his face when she saw him the first and only time. It still stung though. That was okay. She'd remember him. They both would.

He'd planned their kidnapping for months,right down to the last detail then he sat back at his place in New Jersey and watched them escape. They were so good. So calm. So cool. The room in the basement, the shrine, he set it up for them to find for them to know how thoroughly he'd hunted them. It didn't even seem to spook them. Plus they were more ruthless than he thought they would have been. They didn't just incapacitate the guards; they killed them. Hell she cut off a thumb and picked over the body like a vulture not once seeming distressed by the actions. It was just a job that needed to be done.

Now she was here with the FBI tossing the house; looking for evidence. There wasn't any evidence from the kidnapping; this was a hail Mary on her part. She'd made a mistake though. Meagan was a leader and she was intelligent, but she trusted her subordinates too easily and before confining him in his office for the search, she had some nameless, useless, agent, clear the room.


	14. Chapter 14

_**AN: Here's an update. There will be several in quick succession, so bear with me on the edits! I've finally finished this beast, and I want to get it up, before I forget to post the rest of it. **_

While Meagan's team searched the house, she sat across from him in his office. He behind his desk, she in the guest chair his daughter favored. She looked beautiful as usual her long hair hanging down her back. She was wearing slacks and FBI issued Kevlar. She wore it like it was the tailored Chanel Suit.

Her radio crackled, "Ma'am, we've got something." She had been staring at him with the fathomless black eyes, arms draped casually on the arms of the chair, and her gun casually held in her left hand. He stared at her with a slight grin on his face which faltered at the words from the radio.

"Go ahead," she said into the radio mike clipped to her shoulder.

"Half of the jewelry is in the wife's box in the master bedroom."

"Keep looking. See if you can find the rest," she said then her lips tipped up in a smile. "You're fucked. The first crime scene is always so full of mistakes, isn't it?"

"There is no way you can connect me to your kidnapping. That's why you're really here," he said. "I've got ears at the FBI; I know what you're looking for."

"The warrant, which you should probably at least scan, is for evidence in an attempted murder case from several years ago. The victim was brutally beaten, almost to death, during the commission of a robbery. Case was stone cold until we found a picture. See the picture had trace evidence on it. Some of it was blood and looked like cast off spatter. It also held some spores on the back of it. The spores prove that it spent several weeks in your Boston basement. The blood belonged to the victim of the attempted murder and Julio Santos has identified it as a photograph that was missing from his office. It's not enough to get us a conviction, but it was enough to get us a warrant to search for other spoils from that break in. Looks like we found some. You gave your wife another woman's jewelry? Tacky."

"The statute of limitations is long gone on that," he waved her off.

"I'm afraid not. Sorry. There is no statute of limitations on murder or, in this case, first degree attempted murder." She raised an eyebrow at him, "Like I said, you're fucked. By the way, not only does that picture nail you for that robbery and attempted murder, but those pesky spores on the back of the photo prove that we were in your basement, so you know what, we got your for my kidnapping as well."

Maybe, Meagan thought.

"A kidnapping during which two innocent bystanders were shot and seriously injured, not to mention all of those people Ranger and I killed while trying to defend ourselves. You're going away for a long time. Thought you'd impress us, didn't you?"

"I caught you. How many have tried?"

"Many, and a few have been successful; it's keeping us that's the tricky bit."

"You were magnificent as usual; lived up to your reputations and then some. I didn't believe your dad's file when he listed the number of languages you can speak. I was impressed."

"So you watched and didn't try to stop us?"

"I needed to see if your relationship was still what it was when I met you. I wanted you to see that the mission was an error in judgment. That I am every bit as good as you are."

"Hardly," she snorted and leaned forward. "First of all, the point of what we do is subtlety. Crashing into a Starbucks? Not subtle. We also like to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. You didn't even try. See, I would have ambushed us while we were on the stakeout. We were alone."

"But you would have been more alert than while you were getting coffee."

"That's another thing Ranger and I don't get wrong-little personal details like I don't drink coffee. I mean, if I can avoid it, I do. You don't just get the little details wrong, though, you get the big ones wrong, too. Ranger and I aren't married, hell Ranger and I have never even slept together. I married Lester. We've been together for ages."

"No! You're wrong," Beals snapped.

"Pretty sure I know who I'm fucking every night," she said crassly. He had her built up as this ideal of the perfect woman so she was doing her damnedest to put him off by being exactly the opposite of what he thought she was, "Hell, Brown has a better chance at getting into my pants than Ranger ever did."

"You're lying. It doesn't become you. Stop it. I saw you in Bolivia. He held you, you told him you loved him and he called you that name, Querida. I looked it up; it means 'My darling.'"

"He calls his daughter that, too." She chuckled, "He also calls me Hermana or Manita-both mean 'sister.' We've never been lovers."

"But the way you touch?"

"Nonverbal checkins. Can't always ask the question with words. Our touches are completely innocent. You honestly couldn't tell from the way Lester and I dance that we're sleeping together? I've been told watching us is like watching foreplay."

"But Ranger was the one who wanted to buy you the condo," Beals blurted out.

"What?" She asked, genuinely surprised.

"That night I listened to Julio's messages. You called about the condo. You asked him to go look at it. Ranger said to just buy it so you wouldn't be upset if you lost it to someone else. He said you could always sell it, if it wasn't quite right. Lester said to just buy the damn thing; he didn't even sound like he liked it."

She did something then that genuinely shocked him; she tipped her head back and laughed. Really laughed. "Oh man, do you ever have that wrong. Lester wasn't just interested in the condo he was already sharing fantasies with me about it. He wanted to just buy the damn thing because he knew it would get him laid."

"STOP THAT!"

"Stop what?" She asked innocently.

"Stop being crass; it's beneath you. I know how you were brought up and your parents…"

"My parents are probably spinning in their graves. So? I'm not the perfect daughter. I'm not the girl they would have ever hoped I would be. My father wanted me in the family business so badly I was practically raised at his office. I would have rather been playing with friends. How the hell else do you think I fell in with some gang bangers and then into the military? It was to get away from that life. I can't remember the last time I even set foot in MacDunnaugh. I'm CEO in name only and I am probably going to sell the company. It doesn't matter to me."

"NO!" he yelled, "You are just saying that to piss me off. Stop it! It's not going to work. I know you. I know how hard you work."

"How hard I work? Please. I have an IQ of around 200, I'm gorgeous and I have the metabolism of a hummingbird. I don't have to work hard for anything. Even this figure," she snorted. "I practically coast through life."

"It's not working, Meagan. It's not! You forget I was in Bolivia. I saw what you did for that kid on the chopper. I saw you shove your hand in his leg. I saw you hypnotize him. I watched you and Ranger. You killed all those people and then you saved two men who were going to die if you hadn't acted and you did it without thinking. If you just coasted through life, you wouldn't have been able to do that. I know people who coast. My daughter coasts. She's never been cool headed a day in her life. Nothing gets to you. Ever."

"Oookay. If you say so."

"I said stop it! I know you're lying. I know you're lying about it all and it's not working, Meagan. Ranger is your husband, Ranger is your partner."

"Ranger hasn't been my partner for years except on paper in a business agreement."

"Nice try, I had you grabbed on the way to a stake out together as partners."

"We had business to discuss and that was the best way to go about discussing it. We aren't partners and I have documentation to prove that I married someone else."

"No, you're partners. Look." He pulled a disc out of a tray on his desk and put it into his computer, spun the screen and showed her the footage of her climbing Ranger. "That touch there is intimate. That's…"

"Ranger's hand on my ass lifting me up higher so I can pick the lock on his restraints quicker. Did you even attempt to translate what I said there? I asked him if we could keep how I was doing that from Lester and Steph, Ranger's wife."

"Did he just show you the video?" The radio crackled.

"He did" She replied, "We've got the bastard." She leaned forward and ejected the disc that had the video on it.

The door opened and Morelli walked in with a tech who tripped at the entrance and stumbled into Meagan. The distraction was enough for Beals to grab the gun he kept strapped to the underside of his desk. He levelled the gun at Joe's head and screamed at the tech to get out. The good news was that Meagan was able to slip the disc to the tech while he was righting himself, the bad news was, she'd just spent twenty minutes winding him up, and now she had to talk him down.

"You really don't want to do this, Captain," Meagan said, her gun trained on Beals. "You'll go down if you even think about pulling the trigger and you know it."

"You're a Fed?" Beals yelled at Joe, "You were fucking my daughter for a job? I knew you were a bastard. I just fucking knew it!"

"Calm down, Captain," Meagan said, "He was never ordered to sleep with your daughter. She knew Joe was an agent and he was trying to catch her stalker, that's all."

"Oh, he did more than play pretend. I have footage. You think your cameras are the only ones in this house?"

"Captain, I genuinely like your daughter. I do. I wouldn't have done something like what you are accusing me of," Joe said in an effort to placate him.

"Is this true?" He shouted at Meagan, "I know you like to fuck with people's heads. This is something you would do to manipulate her into getting information on me."

"She knew right from the start that Morelli was undercover. You can ask her." Meagan said, "Just put the weapon down."

"Where's Ranger?" he demanded, "I want to speak to Ranger. I know he's out there."

"Ranger isn't out there,Ranger isn't FBI; he's back at Rangeman. I can get him here if you would like."

"Yes, I want him here as quickly as possible."

"All right, Joe, I need you to radio the men and let them know I need Carlos."

"Why isn't he here? You're lying. He's here. He's your partner. He's your husband. Lester married Stephanie Plum. They screwed up the caption; I know they did; I saw you together Ranger is your husband and he is your partner." His voice was filled with a desperate anger. His world was falling down around his ears, and his fantasy of the perfect lives were becoming disillusioned, and he was clinging to them. She'd have to help him, have to get him to believe he was going to be all right, that she was just fucking with him.

"You're right; the paper screwed up. I was just trying to goad you into a confession. Ranger is my partner. He's not here because someone needs to control the men. We're running two teams. Like Vadrine and Frakes did. I run the government side of things; Ranger handles the civilian side. We can maximize our resources that way. Remember how Frakes and Vadrine used to divide the duties? Frakes handled the psy-ops and intelligence gathering, which is why Les, Bobby and I worked with him more, and Vadrine was more Wetwork and Extractions. Ranger and I are using the same model and have a similar division of labour. You know, I wouldn't have another partner besides Ranger; the man knows me so well he knows what I'm going to say before I say it. You can't beat that kind of relationship."

"Exactly! It's what I have been trying to teach Linda and Margaret. It's about anticipating each other's needs and it's about loyalty. You and Ranger have such loyalty. Since you were children, you've looked out for each other."

"That's right, since we were kids. I wouldn't ever betray him nor would he betray me. Now, what can I do right now to make it so we all get out of here alive?"

"Drop the charges. I never meant to hurt you and those kids at the coffee shop weren't supposed to be shot. The people responsible are already dead so it's no big deal."

Beals tried to further explain, "I caught you because I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove to you that I could be on your team. I made a mistake in Bolivia. I didn't know you then, you see. I thought you were just arrogant kids-The Poster Children for the Army. I didn't know you were who you were. I'm used to being the smartest one in the room because I've never worked with people as intelligent as I am. I can offer you the perspective of someone with experience. You're still young; you could use me."

"I'll consider it," she said. "You know we give people second chances all the time. A lot of our staff have benefited from that. They've made mistakes but you know I have the connections to make them go away. I might be able to do the same for you but you'll have to let me take you in first. Ranger and I will need to hear the full story because if you've hurt anyone else, I need to know then Ranger and I will make a decision. I can't make any promises other than we'll hear you out. What I need you to do now is show me you would be willing to accept my orders; that we were wrong in Bolivia. We didn't know you either and, trust me, both Ranger and I know what it's like to have to follow the orders of someone we think is a blithering idiot. It's what almost got me killed so we can sympathize. Now lower your weapon and surrender yourself into my custody."

"Yes, ma'am," Beals said sharply and began to lower his weapon. Both Meagan and Joe approached the desk and she still had her gun out while Morelli holstered his to grab his cuffs. In a moment of extremely bad timing and a spectacular display of stupidity, their Section Chief's voice crackled over the radio.

"Morelli, your partner's coms cut out. I need a Sit Rep. Is Beals in custody? Can we make entry?"

"You're his PARTNER!?" The gun was back up again, this time pointed at Meagan. "Is every word out of your mouth a lie?"

"No,I work for the FBI so I have to have an FBI partner just like sometimes Ranger and Tank are partners."

"You're lying to me again!" He screamed hysterically, "I thought you were honorable! I should have known that you're a disappointment just like Margaret and Linda! I thought you were different! I thought you were perfect but all you know how to do is lie."

"I wasn't lying, Captain, I said I'd hear you out." Meagan kept her voice calm, she could take him before he pulled the trigger, but she'd rather not.

"No! I'm not listening to you anymore!" Time slowed down as Beals chambered a round in the gun leveled at Meagan's head. Joe grabbed her arm and yanked her behind him just as Beals fired several shots in quick succession. Joe's Kevlar vest took the rounds meant for Meagan's head. Morelli, dropped, falling into an unstable Meagan, her to the ground with him. He landed awkwardly on her, half crushing her.

Beals screamed in incoherent rage at having missed his target and rounded the desk just as Meagan managed to get her arm out from under an unconscious Joe, grabbed his weapon and emptied the clip into Beals as the door slammed open.

Someone yelled, "Shit, get EMTs in here Morelli's down!"


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: See! I said they'd be coming quickly! :)**

SPOV

We were waiting on five for an update when Ranger got the call in his office. He came to my cubicle where I was chatting with Lester and delivered the news. I promptly threw up into my garbage can and saw spots for a few seconds then was overcome by a weird calm. Lester punched the cubical wall so hard he put his fist through it.

What I wasn't prepared for was Meagan when we got to the hospital. Frankly, she scared the shit out of me. She was covered in Morelli's blood. He'd landed on her and she had to stay under him while the paramedics got him stable enough to move. Les brought her a change of clothes, but motioned for us all to stay back when we got into the waiting room.

I've seen Meagan resourceful, I've seen Meagan feeling a tad violent, and I've seen Meagan at work getting herself out of a tight spot but I've only ever seen the expression Meagan wore on her face, one other place before. It was the same one Ranger had on his face when he and Joe more or less decided that Abruzzi had to die if I was going to live. Then a few days later Abruzzi committed suicide.

Her face was completely devoid of all emotion except for one. Anger.

"Steph, meet the Pixie," Bobby muttered. "Let Les diffuse the situation… that is if I can diffuse Les. He's looking like he's willing to let her do whatever the fuck she wants. Excuse me." He touched Lester's shoulder and began whispering urgently to him.

Eddie and a bunch of off-duty TPD were crowding the waiting room. Honestly, St. Francis was probably the safest place in the world right now. Half of TPD, a good chunk of the New Jersey Branch of the FBI, and almost all of Rangeman were crowding the waiting room. I went to Eddie, "What happened? We didn't get much, just that he'd been shot and that Meagan took Beals out."

"Well, near as I can tell, Major Crimes in Trenton is going to be getting a new Section Chief and the current dumb ass, dude by the name of Kawolski, will be lucky if he's able to get a job at McDonalds as the mop boy when Princess finishes with him," Eddie said, "and I expect it will be with the blessing of everyone in this room."

"What happened?"

"Well, Princess worked out the confession and some evidence from Beals like the pro she is. Some tech spazzed when they went to arrest Beals and fell into Meagan. Beals pulled his gun, aimed it at Morelli and she started trying to talk him down. She just twisted him up in his own head to get him willing to surrender to her and Joe by convincing him that she was, is and always will be Ranger's partner. Everybody was listening to what she was doing and it was obvious this guy is all about her being only with Ranger forever. She had him believing that she was, then Section Chief Ass Hat radios and says, 'your partner's coms cut out. Can we make entry?' Beals lost it. Started calling Princess a disappointment. Morelli pulled her behind him just as Beals fired. Head shot for her went into his vest.

Problem is it was point blank. Two rounds pierced the vest and one hit his shoulder so he's basically going to have to have a couple of surgeries to put the shoulder back together. That's the least of his problems, though. Not sure what the other bullet hit but apparently it did a lot of damage. If he survives the surgery, his prognosis is good; but he has to survive the surgery first."

"And how is that looking?"

"Santos Senior was asked to scrub in. I guess he's a highly sought after trauma surgeon and he was more than willing to scrub in to assist. He peeled in here in Ranger's Turbo so fast I was impressed that he didn't come through the ambulance bay doors. He said that he would come out as soon as he could to give us an update."

Eddie, who had been staring at the doors as if willing Julio to come out, turned to look at me. "You all right, kid? I know that you and Joe had your problems and all but I know he's still a friend."

"I'm weirdly okay. I think I'm in denial, my freak out will come when I see him."

"It's just that after Ranger got shot that one time you were a mess."

"I know; I'll be okay."

I looked around the waiting room and saw Angie Morelli looking like she was barely hanging on. I hugged Eddie quickly and went to join her. When I sat down, she took my hand gripping it hard. She was shockingly strong for someone so dainty. Her smile was fragile but polite, she wanted silent support and she was going to get it from me.

We sat quietly for a few minutes. "Though she be but little, she is fierce," Angie said with a brittle smile. "Do you think Shakespeare had a dream about her when he wrote that line?" She was looking at Meagan. "I just wish she'd go change and take a shower."

"She can't, Mrs. Morelli; she's got to be processed for evidence."

"Oh, I see. Yes, that makes sense. She's a well brought up girl so I didn't think it was carelessness," She whispered, "You know, when I met her, first thing I did was compare her to you?"

"Oh, no," I groaned.

"I thought, 'she's sweet but she's not Stephanie. Joe needs someone like Stephanie.' "

"Yeah, just with a job that won't give him heartburn," I said with a chuckle.

"Exactly. That nurse he was seeing? Linda? She's far too domestic for him. He'd be bored in a month. Meagan, well I hate to say this about my boy, but he's not nearly open-minded enough for someone like her. She's too everything."

I laughed softly. Yup, that was a good way to put it; Meagan was a little too… everything. Joe wouldn't be able to handle the way everyone's eyes were always drawn to her. Right now, though, people were staring but nobody was approaching her; they were giving her a wide berth. Well, almost nobody.

Lester sidled up to her and draped an arm around her shoulders and whispered something at her temple. Her lips twitched but the hard expression stayed.

"Oh, well. I tried." Lester said, "Do what you gotta do, Gorgeous."

"Thanks for your permission, Dear." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey, I came here under protest. I'm all for whatever you have in mind and, uh, since when have I ever been in a position to give you permission to do anything ever… well, besides Thursday night in bed… but that's different, you like that shit."

That did it. Meagan cracked a real smile. "You're an ass," she said with a slight laugh.

"Yeah, but you love my ass."

"What's not to love about it?"

"You good?"

"I'm pissed. How this clown got to section chief is beyond me. We told him that given our new evidence Beals wasn't the killer but he knew something. He knew I needed to question Beals. Now Beals is dead, Morelli could be dying and it was all because Kawolski couldn't wait two minutes and because he didn't have two brain cells to rub together. Beals had just gone on for half an hour about how Carlos and I were meant for each other; calling another man my partner? Dumbass thing to do. Why tell them my wire was out at all? Why not just ask for a fucking Sit Rep? I'm have half a mind to charge the shit with obstruction of justice."

"Can you do that if it's an agent involved in the investigation?"

"Want to see me do it?"

"Right, forgot who I'm talking to. My brain isn't functioning. My wife, you see, is this little, tiny force of nature and I adore her. She almost got shot in the head tonight while being badass and she's covered in blood because a friend jumped in front of her bullets. It's all I can do not to drag her off somewhere and inspect every square inch of her for damage."

"I'm sorry, Les. I'm just…"

"Oh, believe me I know. Can we get you processed before you kill the Section Chief. I'll gladly assist any way that I can."

"I'm not going to kill him. In order to gauge my response I have to wait to find out if Morelli is going to live and what kind of quality of life he's going to have. So Fuckwit will just have to sweat,. How much he is going to be wishing he was dead is going to depend on Morelli."

"That's my girl. Come on. Let's get you cleaned up," Lester flagged one of the female agents in the waiting room and took Meagan off to an exam room.

"He's good for her," Angie said, "I like them together."

"You and everyone else who sees them together."

"That's what I want for my Joey. He might have found it with you if he hadn't been so pigheaded, but he won't find it with this Linda person and definitely not with Terri. You and Ranger have it. Your parents have it. You're partners. Equals."

That was strangely true about my parents. My dad hardly said anything but he always listened to what mom had to say, even when she was being crazy. They were firm in their traditional division of labor in the house but it was an equal division and they were weirdly happy although you didn't alway see it.

"Out of curiosity, why don't you think he will find that with Linda?" I asked.

"She's not herself around him. She's very clever but she pretends she isn't. A good marriage is about making compromises. You shouldn't have to give up anything fundamental about yourself to make your relationship work. Look at you and Ranger? You eat better and you exercise and carry a gun because you know he worries if you don't. He opens up to you but for a guy like him that's a huge sacrifice.

"Meagan and Lester? She needs to be with someone who isn't at all intimidated by her big brain or her need to excel at everything and she needs someone who she can't walk all over but, at the same time, doesn't ever try to hold her back. Even now he just wants her head clear before she decides what she's going to do." She thought carefully, "No, Linda was more herself with me than she was with Joe. That's not sustainable; she'd grow to hate him and he'd get bored."

"When did you meet her?" I asked.

"A few weeks ago. Joey came over to visit Bob and she showed up at the house. She just finished her shift and saw Joe's jeep in the driveway."

"How'd Joe take it?"

"He was thrilled and introduced us. We talked pasta for half an hour," She was about to say more when the door opened and we looked up hoping to see Julio. Instead we saw an orderly walk in to get coffee from the vending machine. Angie had gripped my hand harder when the door opened but hadn't released any of the pressure yet.

"He's going to be okay; I just know he is," I said to reassure us both.

"Oh, I know he is, too. That's why I'm not a complete mess right now, and I'm very proud of him for what he did."

Meagan returned, her hair in an extremely tight French braid that threw her features into sharp relief and she was wearing almost exactly what she had been wearing before only the windbreaker said Rangeman instead of FBI. Her timing was excellent because Julio walked into the waiting room. He glanced at Meagan and asked, "Amada, why are you favoring your wrist?"

"Jesus, Julio nobody gives a shit about my achy wrist. What the hell is going on with Joe?"

"Give me your arm, I'm perfectly capable of looking at your wrist and speaking at the same time."

She rolled her eyes and pulled off the windbreaker. Her arm was actually rather bruised. "Joe is going to be fine. He's got a long road ahead of him but he will be okay. He has three broken ribs and he's going to require another surgery to fix his shoulder. I had to remove part of his spleen and he had some internal bleeding that needed cleaning up. He will be in recovery for a little while longer and then, we're putting him in ICU tonight and possibly, tomorrow depending upon his vitals, but he's doing very well. Mrs. Morelli, you should be able to see him in about an hour.

"I will warn you, he's not going to be conscious and, to be frank, he looks like shit; but he's breathing unassisted which is more than we could say when they brought him in."

"Thank you, Doctor Santos," Angie said, "when can I take him home?"

"Not for a couple of weeks at least. We'll play it by ear," Julio said. It was hard to be anxious around Julio. He exuded calm, and reassurance. He had none of the usual arrogance you expected from surgeons. He was approachable and friendly, and it was easy to see why Ranger and Meagan looked up to him.

"Thank you again," Angie said. He took a couple of steps closer to her and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"No, I should be thanking you," he said meaningfully. "You don't know how much I should be thanking you for raising your son to be the way he is." He then looked at Meagan, "Your wrist is probably broken…again. How have you been walking around with a broken wrist and not complaining?"

"I've had other things on my mind."

"Well, come on, let's get you x-rayed." Meagan followed him dutifully to another doctor and then they left in the direction of the radiology department. It's sad that I knew this hospital so well that I knew simply by the direction they were heading that they were going to Radiology instead of an exam room.

"She shot Beals with her wrong hand," Lula said which startled me since I hadn't even seen her in the waiting room. She was with Burrows and Terri.

"I'm sorry?"

"Meagan is right handed. If Super cop landed on her and broke her right wrist, she couldn't have shot a gun with her right hand. She shot Beals with her left hand."

"That's what you're choosing to be impressed about?" Terri asked, "Of everything that we've heard about today you are impressed by the fact that she shot him with her left hand?"

"Yeah. I can hardly hit the broad side of a barn with my good hand." Lula said with a shrug.

"You heard her talking to Lester, right? They know that Beals wasn't the killer. You're still in danger Terri and we're at a dead end," I said to her.

"I know. I heard."

"I feel bad." I told her, "I was as sure as the rest of them that Beals was the killer."

"Don't, Plum," she snapped. "I saw all of the evidence, too, and so did about twenty experts. They all liked Beals for it based on what little evidence there was. As soon as they got more evidence, they eliminated him. The man was a freak and a killer and good riddance to him. Now what we need to do is go over everything again-with fresh eyes."

RSRSRSRSRSRSRSRS

"A pink cast?" Joe croaked. "Seriously?"

"Honestly, those are your first words after being out for twenty-four hours?" Meagan was incredulous.

"If I think about what hurts, I'm going to disgrace myself and cry. So…wanna tell me why you have a cast?"

"An idiot man I owe my life to, fell on top of me. He's basically double my body weight and he landed on me funny."

"Sorry about that," he groaned involuntarily, his face contorted with pain.

She handed him a remote and pressed a button on another, "The magic morphine button, it's your friend. Use it."

"Ah, hello, old friend, we meet again," then he clicked the button. "Where's my mom?" she tried not to smile at the query. She knew how he felt. Everyone always wants their mom when it hurts. Well maybe not her. She borrowed moms. Mira Santos, Ella, Rosa Manoso… She gently brushed his hair out of his eyes for him and sat back in her seat.

"She's getting something to eat and then, I think, she was going to the hospital chapel. She needed a bit of a break and Julio threatened to have her sedated if she didn't take one. I'm hanging with you until she gets back."

"How long has she been gone?"

"About half an hour."

"Don't call her; I'll be out again before she gets back."

A nurse bustled into the room. "Agent Morelli! Nice to have you back with us. How are you feeling?"

"Like I was shot. My partner reintroduced me to an old friend of mine," He clicked the button again.

"Only works the once," Meagan said.

"A man can dream." He groaned, "Don't tell me what's wrong with me. I don't want to know yet."

"You're going to be fine, Agent Morelli," the nurse said.

"If you say so," Joe said with a lopsided grin. Meagan shook her head. The man was incorrigible. He was half dead and attempting to flirt with the nurse, but she rolled her eyes at him and scribbled on the chart. Turning back to Meagan, he asked, "What happened to Beals? You're running the interrogation, I hope?"

To which Meagan smoothly responded, "Beals was about to kill us both so I put enough bullets into him to turn his chest cavity into hamburger. He won't be answering any questions." Morelli glanced at the nurse expecting some kind of reaction to that statement, but the nurse kept busily scribbling away on his chart. She felt Joe's scrutiny and looked up.

"I saw the body," she said nodding toward Meagan, "She's not wrong about what his chest looked like. Your partner's a good shot...full clip, close groupings. It was a bit overkill; but, I guess, in the heat of the moment she wanted to be sure." The nurse flipped the chart closed and shoved it into the foot of his bed. "Doctor Santos said he was going to drop in to chat with you later to explain your treatment. Your shoulder is going to need more work and he wants to discuss options."

Meagan's phone rang and, with a glare from the nurse that she completely ignored, she answered it. After the obligatory "Yo," the only word she said was "fuck." When she hung up her phone, she very calmly heaved it at the wall where promptly shattered. The nurse jumped while Joe cocked an eyebrow.

"We were right about Beals," she said then looked at the nurse. "I'm putting men on the room, big fucking scary-looking men. They will be heavily armed and they will have ID tags like this one." She held hers up then reached into one of her many cargo pockets, pulled out a device and handed it to the nurse.

"Before they are allowed anywhere near the room you will scan their badges with this machine. Their picture and their ID number and whether or not they are in fact members of my security firm will show up on this screen." She scanned her own ID and the screen showed a decent picture of Meagan, her name and position in the company, and an ID number. "If their badges are forged, the men guarding the door will be alerted. If the picture on the screen doesn't match the face of the man in front of you, or you are unsure, press the green button and let them through. It will alert the men at the door as well and they will handle it. Do not try to stop them. My men know the drill. If they see you press the green button, they will wait patiently for someone on duty to come to the nurse's station to confirm their identity."

"Oh-oh okay," the nurse stuttered.

"Do you know Angie Morelli?"

"Yes."

"She is the only person without a Rangeman ID who will be allowed access to Agent Morelli."

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"Terri is going to be pissed," Joe said.

"I can give Terri a pass if you want," she replied.

"Fuck, no, don't do that!" He tried to laugh but groaned again instead.

"Sleep, Joe." Meagan said, "I have to go; I have a crime scene to get to."

RSRSRSRRSRSRSRS

Meagan came into the waiting room looking extremely frustrated. She exchanged some words with Ranger and Bobby hopped to his feet and followed her outside. Lester scowled after them. "She shouldn't be on duty right now," he said when she was out of earshot.

"Are you seriously considering telling her she shouldn't do her job?" Ranger asked skeptically.

"I'm not fucking stupid!" Lester snapped, "I'm telling you she shouldn't be doing the job right now! I was barely okay with her being bait when we all were sure it was Beals. I am not okay with her being bait when we have no fucking clue who is out there targeting her and don't tell me we don't think he's targeting her. This latest woman is a 19-year-old Army Captain. How old was Meagan when she made Captain? Nine-fucking-teen! Whoever this is, wants her dead."

'This is why I sent Brown with her. You aren't thinking clearly," Ranger said, "You need to get a grip. She needs your help."

"I should be out there watching her back not stuck here watching the waiting room."

"You telling me you don't trust Brown to guard her with his life?"

"Argh! You know that's not what I'm saying." Julio walked into the waiting room just as Lester looked like he would be more than a little happy to take a swing at Ranger. Ranger stood there with his arms folded across his chest looking impassive. Lester could try to hit Ranger but it probably wouldn't happen.

"S'up, Primo?" Julio asked, strolling over to the pair.

"New Body. Meagan and Bobby have gone to the scene; Lester isn't pleased." Ranger coolly replied.

"I'm not exactly pleased either; you sending anyone else out there?"

"Nope. The state she's in right now, I think she might find that her guns would just get in the way if anyone tried anything. Brown is there for show and to try to chill her the fuck out because Lester is in no shape to do that right now."

Julio looked at his royally pissed off baby brother and did a quick assessment. "Come with me to check on Morelli, Dickhead." He said to Lester, "Ask him the fucking questions she probably should have when he woke up. Channel your wife and cool the fuck down so you can be useful." Wow, harsh! Lester glared at Ranger and followed Julio out of the room.

"Played that one pretty cool there, Ric," Tank said. "I'd probably have shit myself. Last time he looked like he wanted to hurt someone that bad, that someone was me. It wasn't cool."

"As long as Lester thinks he can't take me, he won't be able to take me," Ranger said, "and as long as she's alive, that's what he's going to think. If something happens to her, I might have a problem. Hard to say."

"Whatever, Ric. What are we going to do about this? He's right though, The Pixie is a loose cannon lately and we both know it. She came back to work too soon."

"I know. We have to close this case and send her wherever the fuck they go when he needs to get her head right. In the meantime…" he turned to me, "Babe, anything you've got would be helpful."

"All I have are a bunch of questions. Like, why are we sure it's men doing the killings? How do we know it's not a man and a woman or two women?"

"The rapes. The types of injuries they have only occur with rape," Ranger said. "It's something to do with the pelvic bruising, classic rape trauma."

"So a man has to be involved," I chewed on my thumb nail, "Okay, so if it's a man, I understand using the drug to incapacitate them; but why not let the drug wear off? Isn't that part of what these guys get off on? If someone tortures his victims before they die, wouldn't he want to, you know, hear the screams? Orin, he got off on the pain of the kill not…"

"Orin was a different kind of fucked up than these guys," Tank interrupted, "These guys are in control of everything, use forensic countermeasures, leave no useable evidence. Orin didn't care if he left evidence. He wanted Ric to find him so he would know why he was being targeted. These guys don't want to be found."

"But the motivation is similar right?"

"Maybe. These guys could be anyone. She pissed off a lot of people simply by existing." Ranger said, "She was thought of as an ice princess in school. You've seen the pictures; she didn't look 12. You know about the football captain. That was just the first assault. She was attacked by various members of the football team afterwards. He was obsessed with her. It could be him and this dumb assed basketball player that used to harass her. They couldn't have her so they go after women like her."

"She had to fight harder than anyone else in Ranger school just to get respect." Tank added, "yeah she earned it, but there were a lot of men there who didn't want her to be. It could be someone who didn't like how fast she was promoted. It could be someone like Beals who she busted for fucking up."

"Then there is anyone who has worked for, and has been fired from MacDunnaugh," Ranger added.

"So the suspect pool is massive," I said, "What about revenge for one of your ops?"

"Nope." Tank said, "Those bastards work on a completely different level. They would be far more creative in their method of killing and they would want to make it last longer."

"So we're talking talented amateurs."

"Yeah." Tank said, "We should explore the street angle. Her thesis…"

"Fuck," Ranger said.

"Her thesis?"

"Yeah, it was on street gangs and domestic terrorism. She spent a lot of time around a lot of bangers. She's got a street name and everything." Tank said, "I'll call Hector."

Hector arrived twenty minutes later with a laptop and Meagan's threat matrix up on the screen. It was giving me a headache just looking at it. It would have been easier to just ask the question who didn't want her dead. "Julio and I can get you the street information for New Jersey and New York. If you want Boston and Miami, well, the lady herself is going to have to make that call. Her connections are better than ours. She's tight with an Inca in Miami. He'll take her call any time of the day."

"Which one?" Ranger asked.

"Aguilar," Hector said, "I'm pretty sure they slept together once, and she dated Jose Guzman for a little over a year. They broke up when he proposed to her."

"You're shitting me," Tank said, "Fuck, could he be behind this?" Well, now I needed to know who the hell Jose Guzman was.

"No, it's not him," Hector said, "He's got word out to the Princes that she's not to be touched. She was only 19 when he proposed and she told him she was too young to think about marriage; he accepted that. They broke up just after she graduated Ranger School. Fuck, he was at her graduation."

"I didn't know that," Ranger said. Hector shrugged.

While Tank looked for a wall to bang his head against I asked, "Someone want to enlighten me?"

"Jose Guzman is what's known as the Corona of the Princes. It means that every member of the Princes, nationwide ultimately answers to him. Aguilar is like his lieutenant and is in charge of Florida," Ranger said.

"How the fuck did she even meet these guys?!"

"Her research," Hector answered. "Meagan was 18 and invincible. She was already working on her second PhD; her first dissertation was designed to catch the attention of the military. It worked. They wanted her bad but she wanted it to be on her terms and she got what she wanted. Her second dissertation was the one about the street gangs. She told her bodyguard, Jorge she was going to start speaking to the hoods on the street. That was fine in New Jersey because she had my reputation as protection. However, she wanted to talk to the hoods in New York and Miami as well. Jorge said Jose owed him a favor, so he called it in and asked Jose tp at least meet with Meagan. They hit it off. She got permission to talk to his boys and she was given protection.

"A few weeks later I came home one morning to find Jose sitting in my kitchen in his boxers eating Froot Loops. He'd taken Meagan to some gun range to learn how to shoot her birthday present from him and one thing led to another. She met Aguilar a little while later. Though she's never confirmed it, I'm almost positive she slept with him after a fucked up mission sometime before she met Lester and after she broke it off with Jose."

Well, that would explain why she was picked to lead the task force against the Slayers. I mean she has kick ass street connections.

They continued to speculate about her possible enemies while my head spun. I had Hector email me the threat matrix and drove back to Rangeman. I needed a shower-a long one. I'd been in the hospital waiting room so long I'd started redecorating it in my head. While I was in the shower, I decided I needed to kick this around with people on my level instead of trying to work this out with Ranger and his super spies. I had to start looking at this the way I looked at every other investigation I had ever conducted. I had an almost perfect capture rate for a reason and my unorthodox way of investigating is what got me my answers. What I needed was coffeecake, my mom's kitchen and Lula and Connie would be good, too. I got out of the shower and dressed in my old t-shirt and jeans uniform then dragged Lula and Connie from their desks while Burrows and Gillman followed. We made it as far as the door when we were stopped by Hal.

"Terri can't leave."

"Fuck that. I've got Lula and Burrows and Stephanie. They're all Rangewomen, they're all armed and they're all trained to protect people. I need to get out of this fucking building."

"Just please, Bomber, do me a favor and let me put someone on you guys. The boss will kill me if I don't. Let me put Jimmy and Ram on you."

"Fine, but they don't come into the kitchen" I said. The men in question were summoned. After they arrived the girls and I squeezed into one of the explorers, the men followed in another and we made the short drive to my mother's house. As usual, my grandmother and mom were waiting at the door as if summoned there by some mystical force that let them know progeny was returning home. We piled out of the Explorer like it was a clown car and went up the steps to the house.

"Wow! Lookee here!" My grandmother said with a giant smile, "We've got ourselves a good old-fashioned hen party going on!"

"Hello, grandma, I think you know everyone…well, except Jeanne Ellen." I indicated Burrows, "Jeanne Ellen Burrows, meet Edna Mazur." They shook hands.

"I think I have met you once before. You usually look more like catwoman," she said. Jeanne was dressed casually again and Grandma asked her, "Where do you get all the leather exactly? I want a pair of them leather pants."

"Do not even think about telling her," my mother said before Burrows could answer. "Please, everyone come in. I just bought a fresh coffee cake this morning and I'm trying a new blend of coffee. It's decaf and I'm hoping your father won't notice the switch."

"I'm telling you a man can tell," Grandma argued, "you'll see. It's not going to work."

"We're going to try it. Now get out of the way so everyone can come inside. I'm sure Ranger wouldn't be pleased to have them all hanging out on the steps like this. She's got men following her again. She must be in trouble."

"I'm not in trouble," I said, "Ranger had a stalker and the stalker is dead now so everyone is just being overly cautious. I just needed to get away from the office since I'm getting tunnel vision there. Do you mind if we brainstorm in the kitchen?"

"Fine, just don't go into gory details. You know what your grandmother gets like."

My mother led the gang into the kitchen and Lula and I grabbed a couple of extra chairs from the dining room. Mom was pouring coffee and my grandmother was cutting the coffee cake and passing it out when we got back. When I sat down at the table, pulled out my laptop, and the threat matrix appeared on the screen, Terri and Burrows looked at it and whistled.

Grandma looked at it, sucked at her dentures and observed, "What you've got is too much information. You need to stop looking at this and think 'Who can't it be?'" I borrowed Grandma's printer and printed out the matrix which showed a huge spider web of threats that all led back to Meagan.

"It's not street," Lula said, "Bangers would take credit for it. They ain't exactly shy 'bout that shit. They like everyone on the planet to know when they's threatenin' someone."

"She's right," Burrows said.

I crossed off the gangs which lopped off a quarter of the possible threats. "It's not Family. Uncle Vito would have heard by now," Terri said.

Connie agreed and another chunk, though not as big, was lopped off.

"Tank doesn't think it's op related and that kills off another quarter of the matrix. That leaves the people who hate her for existing."

"The who?" Lula asked. I shared what happened to Meagan in high school.

"They could be good for it." Burrows said, "I can make some calls and find out alibis."

"That doesn't help us with the other problem. Meagan is on paper as CEO of MDI," I said.

"Oh, perfect, that's thousands of suspects," Terri said.

"I don't think it's related to that," my mother chimed in much to my surprise. "I didn't realize Meagan was that Meagan Harris. Trust me, it wouldn't be someone from MDI."

"It's a huge company, Mom. There are bound to be a few disgruntled people."

"They wouldn't take it out on Meagan," my mom said. "You probably don't really remember what it was like when her parents died but the entire company and half of Congress and the Senate turned up for their funeral. I remember seeing pictures of Meagan standing on the steps of the church with the President of MDI. She reminded me of the princes at Princess Di's funeral. She looked so stoic. You could tell she was hurting but she was staying strong, especially when she gave a beautiful eulogy for them. It was all on TV. After that, she was like a symbol for the company. There was this big deal about the employees rallying around her saying they would keep the company safe for her until she was ready to take it over.

I remember a few years back I was reading this article about how she was sort of an honorary CEO of the company while she served in the military and how everyone was proud of her for serving her country. As far as MDI goes, she's never had bad press and you know how those newspaper types hate anyone who seems too perfect. They would be looking for ways to vilify her. They'd look for anyone in the company who held a grudge against her and was willing to speak. Now the President of MDI, he gets plenty of bad press ."

"Well, thanks, Mom." I sighed and scratched out yet another large portion of the suspect pool.

"That just leaves the people who hate her for existing," Terri remarked, "and that list isn't small."

I listened to them kick things around for a while. "Terri, do you remember anything at all about the people that grabbed you? Anything specific?"

"They were short…maybe 5'7. They weren't that strong either; it took both of them to get me into the car."

"That's odd," I said. Hector is around 5'8" and skinny but he could easily lift me and I had about 15 lbs on Terri. I stared at Terri then turned to Jeanne Ellen, "Burrows, you saw them put Terri into the car. How did they do it?"

She grabbed Connie and they recreated the action with Terri using the table as a representation of the back of the car. Jeanne stood at one end of the table and hooked her arms under Terri, Connie picked up her legs then Jeanne pulled Terri across the table. It was quick, efficient and caused no strain.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" My mother blurted out. My grandmother had been playing with my laptop and I spun it around thinking that she had stumbled upon crime scene photos; the last two murders had been particularly gruesome. I really wished I hadn't turned the screen.

"You're mom put all these parental controls on my computer." My grandmother said, "I just knew you wouldn't have those restrictions up!" My grandmother was logged onto a porn site and the screen of my laptop was filled with video thumbnails depicting everything from Blow jobs to butt-sex. "My friend Mabel at the beauty parlour told me about this site. She found it on her grandson's computer. She said it had everything and she wasn't kidding. She said the best thing about it was that the videos weren't that long and that her husband Elmer…." I clapped my hands over my ears so I didn't have to listen anymore about the uses Seniors might have for porn. It didn't work and I don't know why I still believed it might when the theory is pretty much disproved when you are kids. Hands are not sound proof. Lula had no such qualms about aiding my grandmother in her porn viewing and walked around the table to take over the mouse.

"Look here, it's all organized and shit right, so you don't have to scroll through all the stuff you don't want to see. You just click here on the side and it takes you to a page that shows you all of the categories." It was like a train wreck I couldn't look away. My grandmother was listening to Lula like she was spouting off the wisdom of the ages. My mother wasn't even pretending anymore. She was no longer sneaking tipples into her decaf she was just taking a hit directly from the bottle.

"Is it always like this?" Burrows asked.

"Actually the plums are pretty normal. Have you met Joe's Grandma Bella?" Terri replied. I toasted Terri with my coffee. My grandmother may be scary but she's a hoot. Bella was just plain fucking scary.

In light of that I decided not to confiscate my computer. So what if my million year old grandmother wanted to look at porn? She'd earned it. I was watching her scroll through, she was completely fascinated. She paused at on clip and held the mouse over it, to get a preview, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Holy crap! How had they never considered it? That sure as hell was a simpler explanation than anything else we could think of!

"Holy shit! I know who did it!" I exclaimed and shot to my feet., "We have to call Meagan." I dialed her phone and it went straight to voicemail. "Dammit!"

RSRSRSRSRSRS

Meagan stood at the crime scene with Bobby. She was combing through everything while Bobby watched. She never took a note and ignored the crime scene techs. Going on other people's information is what landed them here. When CID showed up, they took one look at her and a flash of her credentials and they quickly beat a retreat. She crouched down over the body. The woman's face was unrecognizable she had been beaten so badly. The pictures on the wall, however, showed she bore a startling resemblance to Meagan. The victim was taller, a little heavier, her features softer with eyes not nearly as dark; but the resemblance was still there. "B, I want you to examine her," she said. "Just a preliminary exam, not here but in the coroner's van; something isn't right."

The sad thing about it was they both knew what they were looking for. They had examined and counseled too many rape victims in their line of work. The M.E. and his assistant put the victim's body on the gurney and wheeled her out of the house then into the back of the coroner's wagon. Meagan and Bobby climbed in after them and closed the doors.

The M.E. watched the two investigators work and was ready to offer assistance. He was sick of getting these women on his table, their injuries progressively worse. If they wanted to personally examine the body, he was fine with it. He knew Bobby was a professional.

Bobby pulled on a pair of gloves and did a quick pelvic exam, and deflated, his face look pained, "Fuck."

"What?" she asked, though she suspected she knew the answer already. She was so young…

"She was a virgin before last night." His confirmation of her suspicions somehow made the whole thing that much worse. He finished the examination and snapped off his gloves.

"Something is odd, right?"

"Yes," he said, "everything's consistent with rape but you're correct. Something is wrong. She had sensitive skin and she's got chafing from something. It's almost like the unsub tried to keep as many clothes on as possible during the assault."

"It looks like what happened when I wore my stupid thigh holster with shorts," Meagan said. "Is it possible that she did the same thing?"

"No, those marks took place just before death; they didn't have time to heal at all." The M.E. said, "It had to have happened either right before or during the rape."

Meagan started going through the victim's clothes. She was still fully clothed wearing a cropped jacket, a short skirt and a long tank top. It was something Meagan herself would wear if going out for a night with friends. When she checked the pockets of the jacket, she found a sealed envelope and pulled it out. The M.E. pulled out his camera and took a picture of the envelope then Meagan carefully opened it.

Inside was a computer print out of what looked like a picture taken from a cell phone. It was a picture of Anthony Beals' body slumped against the wall. The angle was awkward as if it had been taken from the doorway and then cropped to zoom in on the body. The words, 'You were wrong, bitch.' were scrawled across it in what looked like pen.

Meagan closed her eyes and sighed. "Why the fuck does anyone ever waste time not listening to Steph's gut?" She asked rhetorically, turning to Bobby, she said, "I know who did this. Can I borrow your phone? I want to call Stephanie and I smashed mine."

Bobby pulled out his phone and Meagan dialed Steph, "Yo, Steph, I know who did this."

"Meagan, I was just trying to call you." Stephanie replied, "I know who did it, too. We just have no way to prove it. I need your help figuring that part out." 


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: This is the last chapter. I would like to apologize for how long it's taken me to get off my ass and post the last few chapters. The story was a beast to edit, and I was starting to miss major mistakes. So I kept putting it off. I'm still going to go back to polish the other chapters, and I'll probably edit the last three again, but I wanted to get them up before I put it off any longer. **

Bobby dropped Meagan off at my mother's house and went back to the hospital to attempt to reign Lester in. Meagan dismissed our guards and walked up to the house, looking as chill as she ever did; you'd never have known that two hours before she'd been murderous. She walked up the steps to the house and I opened the door before she had to knock.

My mother took one look at the pink cast on her wrist and frowned. "That must hurt. How are you feeling?"  
"I'm fine. If you have ibuprofen I'd appreciate some." My mother left immediately to go to her personal pharmacy and Meagan looked at the group of women around the table. "Edna, would you be a dear and find me a knitting needle or something, the cast is damned itchy."  
"Of course!" My grandmother jumped to her feet and left the room.

"She's spry for someone who's 3000 years old." Meagan commented and I had to smile. She certainly was. She reached behind her and pulled one of the sigs she kept at her back, out and handed it to Terri, "You should be armed right now. I have no idea what they were thinking letting you out of the building without at least one weapon." She sat tiredly at the table and looked up at me. "What have you got?"  
"It's Linda. She's the one doing it. She's got all this hate for you and she couldn't touch you. She would have access to the drugs and she knows how to move a body easily. She had help though and…"  
"It was her mother," Meagan said, "Something her father said during my interrogation of him, made me think. He told me Linda had never been level headed a day in her life. Now I don't believe that's strictly true, otherwise she couldn't work as a nurse in the ER, but she is passionate, and she is reactive. Her father pushed her too hard to be something she's not and she's inherited the same loose screws he had. Something will have happened to trigger the first murder. It wasn't as well thought as the others, and a lot of the injuries were post mortem. I think we'll find that she killed the first victim, called her mother to help her clean up the mess. Mom would know what forensic countermeasures to take because she went to law school. She is the calculating one."  
"Plus she's a mother and never underestimate how far a mother will go to protect her child," My mom said when she walked back into the kitchen. "I've distracted my own mother temporarily."

She handed Meagan the knitting needle and the bottle of Advil and fetched her a glass of orange juice to wash it down with. Meagan knocked the pills back.

"Would you help me cover up a murder, mom?" I asked.  
"I ran over a man in a rabbit suit for you," She reminded me.

"That would be a yes," Meagan interpreted with a laugh, "Please tell me you did it in a Buick? because from what I understand that's the Plum women weapon of choice."

"It was a Buick," I confirmed.

"I'll need the rest of that story some other time," Meagan continued to chuckle to herself. From anyone else it would have seemed mocking, not from Meagan. She was just appreciating our pluck. "Now all we have is speculation. No actual proof."  
"Was there nothing on the body this time either?" I asked.  
"Chafing on the inner thighs and a photograph that is in Hector's hot little hands as we speak. We always assumed no DNA because of a combination of clean up and the use of a condom. I'm saying what if the reason there was never any condom residue found is because there was no need to use one. If she's wearing a strap on over clothes, she's not going to leave DNA."

"So why bother with the bleach clean up?" Terri asked. "So we wouldn't question the lack of DNA evidence," I suggested and Meagan nodded her head in agreement.

"And because if they left hairs, or trace evidence of any kind, the bleach would effectively destroy it," Meagan said.

"Why don't you just bring them in for questioning?" Burrows asked, "Supposedly you can get a confession out of anyone."

"I can," Meagan replied, "But in this case, I don't think it's going to be enough. Even the most inexperienced public defender is going to say that we are going after them out of some vendetta. I doubt it would take much to get any confession thrown out of court without actual hard evidence to back it up."

"What about the tape from our ladies night?" I suggested, "Can we use that in some way? We have recordings of her hating you."  
"Justifiably," Meagan said, "There isn't a person on that jury who isn't going to sympathize with her, and it's a long way from some well placed Jealousy to serial homicide. Not to mention girl on girl rape is very difficult to prove."

"So what are you saying? We can't go after them?"

"I'm not saying anything of the kind. What I am saying is that we are going to have to do something they aren't going to be able to resist. Something that Lester and Ranger are going to absolutely hate, and it's probably not a bad thing that Joe is completely whacked out on Morphine right now." Meagan gave me a significant look and I clued into what she was saying.  
"No no no no no no no no… Nuh uh… nope. Bad idea Meagan. You've got a broken arm…"  
"Wrist."  
"Whatever.. You're in a cast."

"I'll take the cast off. I also have a subcutaneous tracker so we'll know where we're going…"  
"No. It's dumb," I protested again, "We know they're dangerous, we know we can't underestimate them. We can't go off all half-cocked… and before you say anything about me doing the same thing, under normal circumstances, these aren't normal circumstance. Not one of us is in top shape right now."

"This is the day to do it; they are going to be so wound up from yesterday, they won't be able to pass up the opportunity, and they have no idea that I'm on to them."

I thunked my head on the table and Lula stared at me, "Terri's armed, I'm more than armed. I'll have you Lula and Burrows as back up. Connie can slip a message to Hector about what I'm doing…"

"And we can't tell Ranger?"  
"I'm saying we need to act quickly and Ranger isn't going to be looking at this objectively. He's not going to see skills. He's going to see his brand new wife, and he's going to completely forget who the hell I am and only see the cast on my wrist and think I'm the 12 year old girl he had to protect." She took my hand with her good hand, "Steph, I have done things, and been in situations a hell of a lot worse than this, with much less information. I don't…" she paused, and looked at the floor, "Steph, I know I seem a bit fragile lately, I know everyone thinks I've been a bit of a hair trigger, but I promise you, I'm fine."

"They are going to want to hurt you, a lot."

"Believe me when I tell you, that there is nothing they can do to me that I haven't already experienced before, and I know how to deal with it emotionally. I will be in complete control, and I won't let it get it far enough that I'll be in real danger. They aren't going to kill me right away, they are going to want to take their time, which will give us what we need."

"Do we have any kind of plan?" I asked.  
"I have the beginnings of a plan," Meagan said, "Terri, how do you feel like being bait with me?"

"I'm going to need a hell of a lot more details before I can agree to anything," Terri said.  
"I'm open to suggestions," Meagan said.

—

Finding Linda and her mother so we could spring the trap was easy. I mean far more easy than it should have been. Why? Burrows slipped a tracker in Linda's purse when we were at the bar. Why? Because she figured when Linda started going apeshit about Meagan, they were going to want to follow her. Figured if whatever Rangeman was on her, lost her, they'd be grateful for her little microchip hair elastic.

This wonderful little hair elastic is how we found ourselves with two piece of shit looking cars (That were actually in perfect working order and owned by Terri's Uncle Vito) parked in the lot beside Bed Bath and Beyond. Meagan was pretending to get a pedicure with Terri in the nail salon located next to the Bed Bath and Beyond while Linda and her mother were in the Japanese Restaurant next to both. Was it strange that they were having a nice dinner out so soon after the death of Anthony Beals, beloved husband and father? Yeah it totally was. But as Meagan pointed out. They sorta had a few screws loose.

Lula was behind the wheel of a beat up, what was probably once blue, Pontiac Sunfire. I was behind the wheel of a green Oldsmobile so big it made Big Blue seem like an economy car. Burrows was somewhere unseen, watching the restaurant so she could give Meagan the signal that she and Terri should move. Of course a lot of this was going to depend on Meagan's acting abilities and well, I'd been on more than one distraction with her. She was good, it would just depend on how good. The plan seemed like a good one. It really did. I just hoped we could pull it off.  
The waiting was killing me, and it wouldn't be long before Ranger and the rest of the guys decided to check our trackers to see what we were up to. I was expecting a call any minute actually.

"They're settling the bill now," Jeanne's voice said in my ear.

"They took so long I could have had a real pedicure," Meagan said with a yawn, "All right ladies, it's showtime. Lula start your engine now. Steph, wait until Jeanne is in the car with you. Jeanne has my tracker, as well as Linda's on her little dohickey. If you lose us check that. Lula, is everything recording correctly?"

"Yes ma'am," Lula said, "And just in case it ain't I'm recording you on my iPhone."

"You're a Rockstar."

"I could be. I was in a band once. I was almost gonna be famous but I gave that shit up. Finding the right stage costume was just too much of a pain in the ass. I mean you should have seen what happened when I wore all them feathers and don't get me started on the vinyl."

I could hear Meagan's smile, "Sweetheart I hear you. But you haven't experienced inconvenience until someone has sprayed your ass with hair spray to stop your costume from riding up."  
"Yo they actually do that shit?"

"Yup. And you wanna talk feathers? I once was put in a full body nylon suit and had feathers and rhinestones glued strategically to the nylon. Let's just say that pantyhose don't exactly prevent glue from adhering to your skin and I never really found waxing painful after that night."

I cringed at that thought, "I don't even want to know what you were supposed to be…"

"A black swan of course," Meagan said, "Where are they Jeanne? They are taking their sweet assed time getting to the door."

"Makeup re-application in the restroom. They've just left, they will be at the front door in five seconds. Go now."

Meagan and Terri walked out of the salon seconds before Margaret and Linda left the restaurant. Anyone who knew Meagan in the slightest would know that her appearance was wrong. Two things you learned about Meagan within a couple of days of meeting her were that she never wore a watch and she never carried a handbag. While she wore the bell bracelet Lester gave her a zillion years ago, and she often wore her engagement and wedding rings, she didn't like anything near or on her hands when she was working. The bracelet the only exception. That she covered up with a black wristband. I asked her once why she never wore a watch and rarely wore her rings when she worked. She said the reasons for removing her rings, were two fold, she didn't want them to get stollen if someone got the drop on her. They were extremely tempting. The second reason, and the reason she didn't wear a watch, was because they presented the opportunity to leave distinctive impressions on anyone she fought and she preferred to not leave a trace.

The handbag she didn't carry because she needed free hands when she was working and when she went out socially, Lester always had pockets and she could stuff anything she needed, like lipstick and credit cards in them. Personally I think she did it as an excuse to feel him up in public.

Today however she was carrying a small handbag she'd borrowed from my grandmother. A hot pink satchel that weirdly suited her. She'd modified it slightly and slipped a few cameras into the strap, the buckles and into seams. Basically she was broadcasting from several angles. The watch was one she pulled out of a box of James Bond-y things under the floor of the explorer. It was like one of the ones Ranger gave me a while ago. Press the buttons and she'd start broadcasting in every Rangeman vehicle and control room in the company. That particular watch just happened to be on the wrist that used to have the pink cast.

Terri was similarly attired. I had my Bat signal, Jeanne Ellen had my panic button and Lula had her own panic button. We could call for help if we needed it. I was hoping we didn't need it.

I glanced at my phone, wondering why Ranger hadn't called yet. It was unlike him. I looked back out the window at the scene in front of the car. Meagan and Terri were parked next to Linda's car. Meagan looked utterly exhausted and Terri looked like a concerned girlfriend. They were standing in front of Terri's Mercedes chatting. In front of the restaurant Linda and Margaret were staring.  
"Meagan, I don't like this. You should be at home and sleeping; not following me around. I can take care of myself."

"I'm fine," Meagan said, "It's not like the pedicure was stressful. It's just been a long week."

"At least let me drive," Terri said.

"Fine," Meagan replied. "When was the last time you actually slept?"  
"For more than an hour at a time? I'd have to say Monday probably," Meagan said with a shrug.

"What did the doctor say when he looked you over?" "Mild concussion from hitting my head on the floor. Now can we get out of here? We're too exposed."

Meagan took a step towards the passenger side of the car and staggered and then dropped into what looked like a dead faint. Terri ran around to help her and that's when Linda and her mother moved. They acted quickly, it was a temptation too great to resist. Linda went rushing over to the car.

"It's okay!" She said to Terri, "I'm a nurse!" She crouched down beside Meagan's body and reached into her purse. Instead of pulling out the stethoscope in the bag she pulled out a syringe and jabbed Terri with it. Terri dropped like a ton of bricks.

"So far so good," I muttered to myself. What happened next was a possibility we'd batted around but thought unlikely. They picked Meagan up first and put her in the trunk of Linda's car, they did not, however frisk her for anything. Her purse was dumped and her defence spray (a dead one grandma had lying around), a pair of cuffs (also grandma's) and a gun (A prop that dad had in the garage. Honestly my family scared me a little.) Were ditched and her bag was tossed into the trunk with her and the lid slammed shut.

"Great." Meagan, completely conscious, muttered, "Where's Terri?"

"The backseat, they aren't bothering to bring her car. Linda is in the front seat with her mother." I replied, "Instructions?"  
"Don't lose us. Stick with the plan."

So we did. Linda pulled out of the lot and Burrows slipped into the passenger seat. I started the car and we waited until Linda was out of the lot before I pulled out of our space.

"Remember, stick to the GPS readout and stay back." Burrows cautioned. I've tailed people before and Rangeman trained me but I didn't have nearly the experience at staying hidden as Burrows did, and Meagan was locked in a trunk. I was going to follow instructions.  
"They aren't going to Princeton," Burrows said, "And they aren't going to the interstate either."

She was headed to the Burg. "We're going to Joe's house," I said, "She's taking you to Joe's."

"Hear that Lula? Get in front of her and slow her down. Give Terri more time for the drugs to wear off," Meagan said from her location in the trunk. "Steph get to Slater street and park so she doesn't notice the tail. If you think she's not going there, I want you to get back on us ASAP."

"Of course you know it's somewhat strange to be following orders of someone in the trunk of a car. How are you not freaking out?"  
"Are you joiking? I would love to be having a full scale panic attack right now, but unfortunately it would be counter productive.I've rescheduled it for later when this is over. Now get to Slater Street and park in the neighbours driveway."

"Doesn't Morelli have a massive dog?" Burrows asked me.

"Yes but my parents are watching him; dad likes to drive him around in the cab."

I pulled onto Slater street and did as instructed, and ducked down in the car so we wouldn't be seen. Two minutes later Linda and her mother pulled into Joe's driveway. We watched as they carried Terri into the house, if they didn't come out to get Meagan in five minutes we were to abort and go in guns blazing. Jeanne had her gun drawn and was more than prepared to do just that, when they came back out and popped the trunk of the car. The next part was important, Meagan was still transmitting. She was going to come around and distract them from Terri. We had them on kidnapping now, for sure, if we could get physical evidence against them that would be better.

"She's good," Burrows said as we watched them carry Meagan into the house.  
"Who?"  
"The Pixie. She purposely skinned her elbow pretty badly when she fell. Pretty hard to deny she was in the trunk with blood evidence there."

"She's still out cold," Margaret Beals said, "She didn't hit her head again did she?"

"No. According to her chart at the hospital, she's anemic and she's been experiencing random drops in blood pressure. If she's really been up as long as she said she's been, her body has likely just given up. I can wake her."  
"No, secure Joe's girlfriend first; I don't want a repeat of the other day."

"Fine," We heard shuffling and then Meagan groaned.

"Shit, she's coming around!" It was hard to say which one said that.

"She's the bigger threat. Remember what happened when dad had her? Help me get her secured to the chair. She can watch what we do to Terri. Nice treat for her."

We heard more shuffling and Meagan groaned again. Meagan was putting up a slight fight. We heard the distinct sound of cuffs, "No behind her back!"

"Like that's going to make a difference." All three of us said at the same time. The sound of a smack came through the earpiece.

"I'm not sitting in the car anymore." I said, "I want to get into position before anyone gets too hurt."

"Agreed," Burrows said.

We got out of the car I went around to the back of the house where I could see into the kitchen at the back. Burrows to the front, Lula joined me around back. "Tink can you give me your position?"

"Where the hell am I?" Meagan said as she 'came around.' "Are we in Joe Morelli's living room?"

Smooth. "You would know wouldn't you? How many times have you been here exactly?"

"I don't know; he's my partner we come here a lot to discuss work. Linda what's going on?" Meagan.

"Aren't you supposed to be some genius or something? What do you think is going on?"

"Listen, Steph told me what you said. I've never had any kind of relationship with Joe outside of work. I don't know what you think you saw in Pino's the other night. Joe was just trying to get a rise out of Lester because Lester whooped his ass at pool. Our relationship is purely platonic."  
"Please!" She exclaimed, "You think this is about that? About Joe? You killed my daddy!"

"Your father was going to kill me and he was going to kill Joe; I didn't have a choice."

"I saw him. You could have disarmed him. You could have incapacitated him without killing him. I know you could have."

"I was underneath Joe. I was pinned, I couldn't take the risk. I'm sorry it went down that way; I really am. I tried to talk your father in; I had him convinced to come peacefully and then someone made a rookie mistake. You can ask anyone."

"You killed my husband and all you can say is that you didn't have a choice?!" Margaret shouted, "Tell me, did you have a choice when you ruined his career? Did you have a choice when you made it so the men he respected the most in his life refused to return his calls? You made him miserable and then you killed him."

"After he tried to empty a clip into my head. The entire interrogation was on aud—-" A resounding slap sounded and Meagan grunted with the impact of the blow, "Is that all you really have?I expected more from you. I guess your husband was right, you are just a disappointment."

Burrows and I slid open the back door to the house and slipped into the kitchen while Meagan taunted the serial killers. We needed to be in position in case things started getting out of hand. The list of charges against Linda and Margaret were racking up quickly. Kidnapping, forcible confinement, assaulting a Federal Officer. We stayed out of sight, as we made our way down the hall, towards the living room, and I chanced a look inside. Meagan had them sufficiently pissed off and distracted and they hadn't noticed that the drugs had completely worn off on Terri and she was experimentally flexing fingers. Meagan took punch to the stomach, she took worse from the boys when she was sparing, all the same it probably hurt.  
"You've got some practice with this," she laughed, "Too bad you hit like a girl."

"Those other girls didn't think I hit like a girl. The others begged me to stop," Linda said, and hit Meagan in the stomach again.

"Others?" Meagan coughed, "What others? Are you in some Blue Blood Princess boxing club?"

"Don't answer her Linda," Margaret said, "She's trying to get confession out of you. I wouldn't be surprised if she was wired. Strip her."

"That's a bit extreme don't you think?" Meagan laughed. "It's not like a girl goes to a pedicure prepared to be kidnapped." She took another slap to the face for the hell of it, and she didn't even flinch. In fact she looked disinterested, "You guys are getting boring. You do realize I've actually been tortured before? Like for real tortured. Waterboarded, zapped with a car battery… That sucked pretty hard. Do you really think your little love taps hurt? What could you possibly do to me that is worse than what caused the scarring on my back?"

"You've already seen what we do," Linda laughed, "Your new guy? The one they put on you just after Joey disappeared? He looked like he was going to hurl after what we did."

"Jimmy always looks like he's going to hurl at a crime scene; you're going to have to be more specific," Meagan said wryly.

"Linda shut up," Margaret said, "She's manipulating you."

"Oh she doesn't need to shut up; you're already fucked. I mean between what the cops are going to do to you for going after me, and the mafia is going to do to you for drugging and trying to kidnap Terri, not once, but twice?" Meagan said.

"Trying to? Seems to me I was successful this time," Linda said with a snort.

"Yeah but you got your car shot up last time."

"Her body guard that time was a damn sight better than you are."

"SHUT UP!" Margaret yelled.

"She was your first though right? I mean your dad was pretty sure you were too stupid to pull off anything involving a brain, you copied his work right? Thought, hey if I get caught I can just blame it on daddy right? Going after those girls that look like me because he wasn't man enough to go for the real thing…"

Margaret snorted, "Yeah. Like Tony could have pulled off any of that? He'd look for a way to leave a signature."

"All the evidence pointed to him. We're calling the latest killing a copycat and leaving it there. I mean up until that point we had no useable physical evidence. Last killing had a lot of overkill, a nice message with handwriting we can match, let's not forget the evidence left on the body. Whoever did it wasn't exactly as skilled as Tony was. Won't take us very long to solve the mystery."

"You don't have any evidence? What evidence do you have?"  
"Like I'm going to tell you that. Let me tell you a little story though. You see I've had to kill people up close and personal before and I've had to do it in such a way that I had alibis and that if my place was searched there would be no physical evidence linking me to the crime. The first time, well you make mistakes right? And it's handy to have someone watching over your shoulder, making sure that you've cleaned up properly. If that person has forensic knowledge it's better. As time goes on you get better at it, then the problem becomes complacency. You think that nobody can catch you, so you start to make little mistakes. Like giving a victim the wrong dosage of your drug, so now you have a witness to worry about. Even if she dies you have to worry about whether or not she's said anything to anyone because then you have two witnesses.

Then there's evidence disposal. While the crime scenes are pristine, what about the tools? I mean our killer is very organized, brings his tools with him. If he's smart he won't clean them at the crime scene. I mean what if he leaves a piece of it behind. He probably takes the items home with him. But by the time he gets home he has the adrenaline let down to contend with. Well what happens then? Does he assume that the likelihood of anyone even considering him as a suspect is so slim that he can wait to wash the toys he brings with him? Or does he get off on the trophy aspect of the weapon, knowing he's untouchable.

If he's ritualistic then the clean up will be part of what gets him off, but this guy isn't. This guy lets rage fuel him. I'm guessing the ritual is tedious."

Linda and Margaret exchanged a glance, they both had paled significantly, "They have nothing Linda. Nothing. She's fishing."

"Are you sure? I mean are you sure? She said she has evidence."

"You have nothing to worry about sweetheart; I promise."

"OF course then there's the DNA under the fingernails of our survivor," Meagan said.

"What?!"  
"Impossible. I cleaned her nails after she scratched you," Margaret said.

Meagan started laughing, "You keep telling her to shut up and you're the one who confesses."

"You have to be alive to be a witness. You won't be by the end of tonight," Margaret said.

"I said you were boring right?" She sounded bored and she made a face, "'Oh you're going to get it.' I'm obviously terrified."

"You should be," Margaret said, "We've been thinking about this for years. There won't be mistakes this time, and we're really going to enjoy it."

"Yeah, all right; bring it." Margaret took a swing and Meagan's hand shot out from behind herself and she snapped one cuff onto Margaret's wrist and twisted her arm up into her shoulder blades forcing her to her knees. She snapped the other bracelet on to Margaret's other wrist, all using her uninjured hand. Burrows went to Terri, who was trying to get up. Linda bolted and I took off in pursuit.  
We heard an oomph as Lula was pushed off of the front step and into the bushes. Linda had decent head start on me by the time I got to the door and hauled Lula out of the bushes. We ran to the car, Lula slid across the hood Dukes of Hazard style and I popped into the passenger seat. Linda was sprinting down the street and as Lula gunned it and took off after her, I had my hand on the door handle, "Slow down and get me close." I ordered, Lula swerved and just as we got close to Linda, Lula hit the brakes and I popped my door opened, it made a very satisfying thump as it thwacked into Linda, knocking her to the ground.

She groaned as the wind came back into her lungs and I jumped out of the car. She was already face down so I took the opportunity to grab her hands and cuff her behind her back.

"You know, she's not so tough without mommy there backing her up?" Lula said, "I mean that was just a little love tap. I slowed down a lot cause I thought you were gonna jump out after her and I didn't want your skinny ass to get hurt. If I knew you were gonna take her out with the door I wouldn'ta slowed down near as much."

—

When we got back to the house the Feds were there, loading Margaret into the back of a big black SUV with flashing red and blues. An ambulance was there checking out Terri. It had taken a little too long to throw the drug off, it was a good thing she'd not been necessary as anything other than a witness. The camera in the button of her blouse was pretty handy since they'd left both bags in the back of the car. We had everything from the ambush at the cars to the whole time they were in Joe's living room on video and Meagan's blood was in the back of the car.

Meagan was holding her broken arm up to her chest, the only sign that the fractured wrist was bothering her. "Keys I want to see her keys," She was saying as we approached, "One of the officers produced Margaret's keys, and held them up, "There's a tag for a private gym in Princeton. We're going to find the gym bag there. The lockers are owned by the gym, they should grant you access, if they ask for a warrant call Judge Hastings; he'll give you one."

She kept fending off paramedics until Bobby approached her. He gently pried her wrist from where she was holding it protectively against her chest and he began putting a splint on it. I thought I was the only one who was stubborn about getting help from random paramedics.

"She has serious trust issues," Lula said. I didn't exactly blame her. I mean Meagan was justifiably paranoid. She knew that if Bobby stuck her with something that would knock her on her ass, she'd be well taken care of. I was sort of the same way now.

Ranger went to speak to Meagan while I chilled with Tank. She gave me a significant look and said something I couldn't hear, all of her mics had been either disabled or removed. Ranger glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. He seemed to be agreeing to whatever she was saying. Bobby finished taping her up and seemed to be giving her a stern talking to.

"Bobby is trying to convince her to get her ass to the hospital," Lester said in my ear and I jumped, "Seriously Beautiful; work on it. I wasn't even trying to be sneaky this time."

"Shut up Les," I laughed, "Will she go to the hospital?"

"She'll go when she's closed this down. They'll find the gym bag at the gym like she said. She's going to want the full story, then she's going to sleep for a week. If I have my way, much of that sleeping will take place on a beach under a big fuckin' umbrella."

"Where's the beach?" I asked.  
"Can't give away all my secrets Beautiful," he said with a wink.

Ranger returned, "Meagan wants you to conduct Linda's interrogation."

"What?! Why me?!" I said.  
"We think she'll open up to you more. People like talking to you and Meagan's only going to antagonize her and she's not in the mood to be the Pixie. She'll be in your ear if you need her. If you want her to, she can just dictate what you say."

"Ok. What the hell."

The whole interrogation thing wasn't what I was expecting. I mean they put Linda in the room, she was cuffed to the table, but instead of letting her sit there stewing forever, Meagan told me to bring her a cup of coffee, in a paper cup and to go in right away. "When you go in there, ask her if she's ok; be as apologetic as you can be."

"I knocked her on her ass and cuffed her in the street; she's not my biggest fan at the moment."

"Tell her I told you to do it; she hates me already. In fact, whenever she gets contentious, you can pass the buck onto me. I've got strong shoulders. I can take it."

I put the earpiece in and walked into the room with the coffee. The jumpsuit didn't exactly flatter her. Given she'd looked perfectly put together earlier I'm sure she wasn't exactly thrilled to see me still looking not half bad. "Are you Ok?" I asked her when I walked in. "No cuts or anything that need looking at?"  
"Well you ruined my favourite jeans and I'm going to have one helluva bruise, but I'm fine."  
"Oh this is going to be easy. She wants to talk. Just go with your gut Steph," Meagan said in my ear.

"They found the gym bag in your mother's locker and your DNA was found under the fingernails of one of the victims," I said, "Plus, your mother was right; Meagan and Terri were so heavily wired that it's possible that they filmed this evening in IMAX. I was really hoping she was wrong about you; I didn't want to believe it. What the hell happened?"

Linda toyed with her cup and then took a sip, "You got any sugar?" she asked.  
"Oh sorry. Yes hang on," I walked over and tapped on the glass to the observation room and a few seconds later someone brought in packets of sugar and some Coffeemate. "I should warn you, you can dope it up all you want, but the coffee doesn't get better."

"Yeah well, I don't imagine my life is going to be filled with gourmet meals from now on."

"You're probably right." I agreed.  
"You think I'll get the death penalty?"  
"I don't know," I said, "It's a federal crime because you crossed states. I don't know what will happen."

"I'm sure she'll see to it that I fry," Linda said bitterly, "It's her fault you know?"

"Why?" I asked.

"I told you about how my dad was obsessed with her, but I guess you know that all ready," She sighed. "So my dad comes home one day from this business trip in Miami, I don't know how old I was, but when he comes in, he gives mom and I each a necklace. They're gorgeous right? The one he gives mom is this beautiful diamond pendant. Very simple, but the clarity was amazing, hung right in the hollow of her throat. The one he gives me is different, a little more age appropriate. There was this fairy on it, she was sitting on a crescent moon. The moon curved around a compass. My dad, he was always trying to get me interested in outdoorsy things. I figured that he thought the compass might entice me out there."

"Did it work? Did you start hanging with your dad more?"

"It might have," she said, "Except that same night, I'm out with friends and I'm playing with the necklace, and I realize that the fairy moves. I pushed it and it triggered a release and it opened this little secret compartment behind the compass, it was very clever.

Inside the compass was a small bit of paper folded up tight. I thought it was a message from dad. I was confused when I read it at first. I thought the note was addressed to Amanda and I was wondering what the hell was going on you know? Like maybe dad bought me an antique or something. Then I took it into the restroom where there was better light and saw that the letter was addressed to Amada. It means Beloved. The letter said, 'Amada, I always want you remember that you are loved and I hope this always helps you find your way home. Love Dad.' I was touched you know. I mean one of my friends told me what amada meant. Then I saw the inscription on the inside of the compartment. It was tiny, whoever did the engraving was impressive. It said, 'Happy 18th birthday Meagan.' I was so pissed off I threw the necklace away. I left the bar and I was on my way home, on the bus when I heard this girl bragging about a grade she got on a paper. She was a little blonde thing, and she reminded me of Meagan."

"How did you know what Meagan looked like?" I asked.

"Dad used to force mum and I to read these articles about Meagan. He'd show us pictures, made a big deal about how beautiful she was, and when you got to know her like he did, you'd see that it wasn't just a physical thing. I don't see what the big deal is? She's too short and her eyes are too big for her face."  
"She's not exactly wrong there. My eyes are rather disproportionately large," Meagan said in my ear. I had to fight a smile.

"What happened with this girl?"  
"Every time I looked at her I saw miss perfect, so I followed her home. She wasn't that bright and I followed her right to her building. When she saw me, she asked me if I was coming up to see a friend. I lied and said yes. She let me in and I followed her up to her apartment. She laughed when we went to the same floor. I pretended to look for a key in my bag and when she got her apartment door open I pushed her in. It's kind of hazy after that. I remember hitting her again and again. Calling her all kinds of names. Telling her what I thought of her, pretending she was Meagan. When it was done, I didn't know what to do so I called my mom from my cell phone."

"And?"  
"Mom came over and helped me clean up. She made it look like a burglary gone wrong. She said," Linda took a breath, "She said that we could confuse the cops if we cleaned up everything first and staged an obvious robbery. She came prepared with everything. She brought cleaners, she brought a vacuum, she brought a new shower curtain. We took her shower curtain off of the rod and wrapped her in it and then moved her to the bed. Mom took her clothes off of her and told me to leave the room. I didn't see what she did to the body, but I can guess. Then she had me shower and get clean in her bathroom and then she scrubbed the bathroom and put up the new shower curtain. I remember feeling really tired after that. We got out into the street and mom waited until we got closer to home before she dragged me into an alley and pushed me down. She tore my clothes, she slapped me around a bit. Then she took the money out of my purse and told me to go to a bar and claim that I'd been mugged. So that's what I did. I don't know what she did with my phone."

"When happened after that?" I asked. "The police called my mom and she took me to the hospital, we filed a police report. My mugger was never caught, obviously, and mom did such a good job with the staging of the first killing that they pinned it on this serial rapist."  
"When did you start sexually assaulting the victims?"

"When dad came home after watching Meagan dance with Lester. He… he hurt mom. Mom was so angry at that point too. We hated him. We should have left but my mom's family didn't believe in that, in fact she would lose pretty much everything in a divorce, so she couldn't. We were all miserable. It was Meagan's fault but we couldn't exactly get at Meagan; not without practice at least. We aren't stupid."

"How did you pick the next victim? Was she random like the first?" I asked.  
"No, Mom knew her. She was the daughter of some bitch at the country club. Mom said the daughter wasn't much better than the mother and that the mother could be taken down a peg or two. We planned it more carefully this time."

"Is that when you started using the drugs?"  
"They aren't difficult to get you know? But yes. We had everything. I… I didn't rape the girl the first time. That was mom. She… she wanted her to feel what dad did to her because of Meagan… Because of what he wanted to do to Meagan."

"Were all of the assaults a reaction to something your dad did or said?"  
"Yeah," she said into her cup, "The next girl, was mine though. That was just after he moved us to Miami."

"Were you just angry because he took you away from your friends?" I asked. She shook her head.  
"No, he kept trying to set me up on dates, with men that reminded him of Ranger," she said.

Linda kept talking for more than an hour. Meagan was right; Linda wanted to tell her story. W When I finally left the room, Ranger was waiting for me to take me home. "Where's Meagan?" I asked. "Bobby forced her to go to the hospital to get a new cast," Ranger said as he led me out to the Porsche and I climbed into the passenger seat. I was exhausted, it had been a very long day.

"Is she okay?" I asked, "I mean with what Linda said? She blames Meagan for everything. She doesn't even really blame her father, she claims Meagan forced him to act the way he was acting."

"Linda is a sociopath; so is her mother and so was her father. Meagan knows that and she won't be losing sleep over Linda's delusions. Just like she's not losing any sleep about shooting a crater into Beals' chest."

"She doesn't blame herself?"  
"Nope. Why should she? She might blame herself for taking so long to solve the case, but I doubt it. She hasn't really had it that long and the FBI have had it for years."

I nodded again and yawned enormously. Ranger cracked a smile and slipped into his driving zone. I close my eyes for the short drive to Haywood where Julio was waiting for us in the garage.

"Before you protest, I've already checked out Lula and Burrows, you're next," he said to me.  
"Why?" I asked, "Nobody laid a hand on me."  
" Humour me," he said with a smile, "These guys have made me paranoid and I no longer believe anyone when they say they aren't hurt."

"It's pointless arguing. I've yet to squirm my way out of his random health checks. He'll just follow you around being irritating until you give in," Ranger said, "I need to check in, I'll see you on seven."

He gave me a quick kiss and took the stairs. Julio and I took the elevator to the second floor. It was a bit lazy of us, but in fairness, I didn't think I had the energy to walk the flight of stairs.

We walked through the gym to Bobby's exam room and Julio handed me a plastic cup, "Go pee in that and then come back here."

I rolled my eyes and went to do as I was told. When I came back he had me sit on the table and took my blood pressure. Listened to my heart and checked me over for skinned knees. "Did you fall at anytime? Take any hits?"  
"No. Seriously, for once I've come out unscathed. I promise," I said.  
"How have you been sleeping?" he asked. "Great actually. Like the dead."

"Good." he paused, "I promised you an explanation; I figured now was as good a time as any. I'll try to keep it brief but I tend to get long winded."  
"I like a good story." I said with a yawn, "Really I do."

"Adopting Meagan was a way for her to have her cake and eat it too. Meagan needed someone adult to look up to, to offer her guidance and more importantly, she needed security. Her life was a complete mess and about the only security she had was financial. Her Godfather couldn't take her, Ella, well Ella was going through her own shit. If she'd been asked she would have done it in a heartbeat. She's a wonderful woman and she looked after Meagan her whole life. At the time though, Ella and Luis were trying to start their own family and struggling with fertility issues and it was causing strain on their marriage. The day before Ella took Meagan to meet Ric, she brought her to stay at my grandmother's.  
I don't want you to get the wrong idea here, but the truth of that visit was that Ella needed a break from Meagan. Meagan was a complete handful, she didn't really get that Meagan wasn't just grieving, that she was suffering from severe depression. Nobody expects a twelve year old to suffer from it, but Meagan was showing signs of it well before her parents died. Her shrink made note of his concerns in her patient records and informed her parents a few weeks before the car accident that killed the three of them.

When her parents died, the courts decided that until the Emancipation issue was dealt with, Meagan would be fine living in her parents house with the army of staff that looked after her."

"Like Bruce Wayne." I grinned. "Yeah." He smiled back, "So anyways, Ella was supposed to undergo a battery of fertility tests and Meagan's increasing mood swings were getting out of hand. Well there isn't a child out there who Rosa can't cure of bad behaviour so she suggested to Ella, that Meagan come for a visit, so she could figure out what should be done with her. Ella said she wanted her to meet Ric, Rosa thought it was a good idea."  
"Why were you there?"  
"Apartment hunting," he said, "So everything seems to be okay, when Meagan first gets there, she's a little reserved but that's to be expected. There were a lot of us there. She went to bed early, but she couldn't sleep. She after she thought everyone had gone to bed, she went downstairs for a drink and overheard a conversation between my grandmother and Ella where Ella said that she didn't know what she would do if the courts asked her to be Meagan's guardian. The doctors were telling her that any pregnancy she had would be high risk and if she became pregnant she'd have to quit, or take a leave of absence. She just couldn't look after someone like Meagan anymore."  
"Oh God," My hand flew to my mouth in horror.

"Now Ella is wonderful and the part of the conversation Meagan didn't hear was what Ella said right before that. She was telling Rosa how awful it had been for Meagan, and how pissed she was at Meagan's parents for not appointing a guardian for her. She was pissed that everyone that the court approached, for the position was more than willing to take control of Meagan's money, but they weren't willing to take responsibility for raising Meagan. When she said she didn't know what she was going to do, and Meagan missed this part too, it was because she didn't know how she was going to tell Luis, that she could never leave Meagan.

Meagan, was devastated, Ella had been the rock. Ella had been the one to consistently offer her warmth and support, for most of her life. Hearing that she was thinking about quitting was a major blow and sent Meagan into a spiral. Meeting Ric and then Hector the next day didn't help like you'd think it would. In Meagan's mind, a woman she was hoping would be her mother, didn't want her; Meagan relegated Ella to the category of people who only saw her as a paycheque. Then she mets these two boys who she saw as kindred spirits and she loves them both instantly and she knew she was going to lose them when Ella left. So while she's spending the summer at Rosa's while Ella was taking a much needed break to reconnect with Luis and frankly to discuss the Meagan situation, Meagan wasn't actually not healing, she was getting worse.

So the end of August rolled around and she went home to get ready for school. I decided to tag along, see Wayne Manor and all of that. Meagan gets it into her head that since I want to be a doctor I have to learn how to play golf. She was practically playing from the womb so she already knows how and she's going to teach me to play. We'd been playing nine holes a day all week when on the last day I was there, there was an incident with one of her classmates and his father. The kid was the bastard that broke her arm, we were playing slow because I sucked, and we were going to let them play through and they insisted that we make up a foursome instead. I had no idea who the bastard was and Meagan didn't say anything. She went to take her shot and the idiot decided to 'help her' with her swing. She didn't have the blank face mastered yet; you could tell she was terrified of him, so I stepped in and took her home.

She was pissed. Told me she could handle it herself. That I didn't really care about her the way I thought I did, that I would just leave her when Ella did. That we all would because nobody actually wanted her. That her money was what was important, as soon as Ella quit working for her, like she said she was going to, we'd all stop talking to her. That's when she told me about all of the rejections, the people who had been her parents closest friends suddenly disappearing when the courts were trying to find a temporary guardian for her. How she wasn't stupid and that the real reason her parents wanted her to seek emancipation was because they knew that nobody wanted her. Then she threw me out."  
"And you left?"  
"Sort of. I went to McDonalds and bought her a ton of comfort food and told her that she was crazy. She didn't really have a choice about letting me in either because I still had the key she'd given me. We had a long talk about everything she'd been feeling since her parents died. What she'd overheard in the kitchen, Mark, the asshole from the golf course, everything really. I still don't know what made me say it, but that's when I told her that I was going to adopt her. That I wanted her to be sure that there was one person in her life who would always be there for her.

We called her lawyers the next day. We set up a trust that would cover our living expenses and tuition. I didn't want her to think I was after that money so I made sure, I didn't have access to it and her accountants paid all of the bills for us. The money that didn't go into the trust went into a different trust that her lawyer and the President of MDI were co-trustees of. Meagan could only draw money from that trust with their permission until she was 18. Though to be honest I don't think they ever objected to anything she wanted to do."

"You were so young though; I can't believe that they would have granted it," I said. "I was the answer to a lot of problems. They didn't want to emancipate Meagan, putting her in the foster system would have been a public nightmare, finding someone who was willing to be a guardian wasn't working. She was months away from starting university and I stepped up to the plate, I'd transferred to Harvard, where she would start school in a few months, I was a prodigy like she was so I theoretically could understand how her mind worked and I was volunteering to the job."

"Why the secrecy then?"

"That was actually never our intention. I mean until it was a fait acomplis we didn't want to tell anyone because I'm pretty sure my family would have killed me. Then the press had a field day with the the assumption that she was emancipated and there was this huge spike in MDI's stock. Seriously it was crazy. Everyone assumed that she was going to school for business in the fall. That in a few short years, when she was done school she was going to step in and be her father all over again."

"But that's not what happened."  
"No. Before the adoption went through, some serious shit was going down at school, and Meagan was so insecure that she was afraid I'd change my mind about adopting her, if she told me. So I went back to New York, to finish the semester I had left there, Ella was looking after Meagan, and she's got nobody she feels she can tell what's happening; not even Ric, because she doesn't want to risk him telling me. Then one day it gets really bad, Ella is out of town, but she has the rest of the staff looking after her, and Meagan tells them all to go home. She's going to bed early. She talks to Ric, like she always did, but he could tell something was wrong. So he called me and I booted it to the house as fast as I could, and found her in really rough shape, seriously considering, doing the unthinkable. I took her to see Ric right away."

"Why?" I asked, "If you were going to adopt her, why take her to Ranger? Why not stay with her yourself?"

"Before she met Lester, Ric was the only one who could see through the front Meagan put on. I remember there was this one day, she was standing in Hector's living room, talking about this stupid obsession of hers, she had a lot of random ones, and Ranger stood up, walked over to her and hugged her, and she just started sobbing like her heart was breaking, and it was. I mean she'd lost her whole family, and she was still scared she was going to lose Ella. She adored Ella, and if she quit, it would be awful.

Around the time the adoption process was finalized, Meagan approached Ella and told her that she would be okay if Ella wanted to leave, and she'd see to it that Ella had an excellent severance package and she'd completely understand. She said she knew what Ella and Luis were going through, and said she didn't want Ella to have to live with the strain of someone that was as difficult as she was. Ella told her that the only way she'd ever accept a severance package from Meagan, was if Meagan fired her.

Then she would take the money, put it into a bank account and go to work the next day, and wait until Meagan got over whatever tantrum induced such an action. No Meagan wasn't a walk in a park, but unconditional love wasn't exactly unconditional if it meant you only gave it when things were easy. So Meagan said, 'so you wouldn't leave me if I didn't pay you?' and Ella quit on the spot and then called someone who had been trying to poach her for a job and accepted the position. Then she made Meagan her dinner and said that she and Luis were going to move into the apartment over the garage on the first of the month, because it was actually bigger than the little guest house they lived in on the property, and it was closer to the main house. If she was going to have to work somewhere else then she didn't want the ten minute walk on top of a commute, so she could get Meagan off to school in the morning on time and still have time to make it to work.

Then she cussed Meagan out for even thinking that she only loved her for the money. Said there were a lot better paying jobs, that were easier, than taking care of Meagan, but she stayed because she loved her, and told her she'd never accept so much as another penny from her.  
The arrangement lasted until Meagan moved in with Hector, and then she told Ella that she bought the building she was moving in to, and figured, that it would be easier for her to get Meagan to school on time in the morning, if she lived in the same building. Luis was made building manager, and paid probably better than anyone else had ever been paid for that job. She's tried to pay her several times sine then and Ella just tears up the cheque or transfers the money back to Meagan. She hasn't accepted a single penny from her since."  
"Until now you mean," I said, "Meagan is back at Rangeman. She's one of the owners of the business." "Ella quit the second Meagan came back to work. Ranger has to pay her out of pocket and Meagan pays him back half. But Ella is not on Rangeman's payroll anymore. Ranger thinks it's a pain in the ass, but he gets it."

I grinned, "The other day Meagan walked into the office and dropped a file on his desk and he looked at it and said, 'It's been twenty years; I wish you would work your shit out.' and Meagan said, 'I told her she's made her point, and then some, it's all her.' They were talking about Ella weren't they?"  
"Probably," Julio said. "So, there you go, a brief history of Meagan. I adopted her because I was impulsive and suffering from a hero complex. Meagan is a nutcase, but it's well earned, and Ella should be nominated for sainthood for putting up with all of us. Now back to you!" He got up and walked to the table and dipped some strips into my jar of pee. Then he took my heart rate, and had me lie on the table while he pressed down on my lower abdomen for a bit. He smiled again and then opened my chart and consulted the test strips.

"So, I'm taking you off of field work. You can still work in the office and I expect to see you in the gym training, but no sparring of any kind, and I want you to take at least one nap a day, until I say otherwise," he said.

"Umm what? I told you, I'm fine. I didn't hurt anything. Not even a scraped elbow. Lula took more than I did."  
"Stephanie," he said, looking at my chart, "It says here that you told Bobby you were thinking of switching birth control because your periods were a bit wonky. Define wonky?" "They were really heavy and I was having breakthrough mid pack, and I was cramping badly. So he told me to stop taking them, to make an appointment with my gynaecologist and in the meantime to use condoms until I got in to see her. Things have been busy, so I haven't had a chance yet."  
"And I'm sure you're super careful to always use them…" he said with a smirk.

The truth was, we weren't. Sometimes we ran out and decided to hell with it, and Ranger would pull out, or we'd think it was so close to my period that I probably was fine. It had worked so far. "Has your period been normal since you stopped taking the pill?" he asked. "Yeah, clockwork, though last month it was a super light," I said.

"And your next one is due?"

I checked my watch for the date, and just about fell off of the exam table, "Last Tuesday."

"I figure you're probably about ten weeks along and that your last period wasn't actually a period. Sometimes there's a little bleeding in the first trimester, it's totally normal. We'll do an ultrasound to be sure."

Ranger was sitting at his desk when I walked in to his office and sat down heavily on the sofa. He looked at me and said, "I take it the test was positive?"

"You knew?" I said, shocked.  
"Meagan asked me today after the bust if there was a possibility that you were," he said and I immediately wondered if I was already putting on weight, "She had just noticed that your breast were looking 'more spectacular than usual' not the words I would use, but I agree with the sentiment." He said, "How do you feel?"  
"I'm scared out of my mind! How do you feel about this?!" Ranger got out from behind the desk and came to sit beside me on the sofa. He pulled me onto his lap and kissed my temple.

"It'll be an adjustment," he said, "But I knew the risks we were taking, and if I were dead set against having more kids, I know plenty of other things we could have done that would be just as satisfying and carried no risk, until you were back on some form of birth control."

"So you aren't mad?" I asked. "Not even a little bit," he said, "I'm just wondering where the hell we're going to get all black baby clothes for when he's on the floor here."

"It could be a girl," I said.

"It isn't," He said. He smiled at me, a full on Ranger smile, and this little ball of emotion formed in the pit of my stomach, anxiety, happiness and excitement all mixing together. Now that i knew he wasn't going to freak out, not that Ranger ever actually freaks out, I could actually enjoy the news.  
"I bet you it's a girl," I said.

"I'll take that bet," he said, and then he whispered his terms in my ear and I was pretty sure what he was expecting to get, wasn't something our little fetus should hear so early in his life. Since I had no idea when babies are supposed to have ears or hear things, I put my hand over my belly to protect him from his father's dirty mind.


End file.
